, dearest.
You can live with Mary and Hartfield. They will take care of you.'

Lesbia shuddered.

'Do you think I am going back to the society treadmill?' she exclaimed.
'No, I have done with the world. I shall end my days here, or in a
convent.'

'You think so now, dear, but you will change your mind by-and-by. A
fancy that has lasted only a few weeks cannot alter your life. It will
pass as other dreams have passed. At your age you have the future before
you.'

'No, it is the past that is always before me,' answered Lesbia. 'My
future is a blank.'

The bills came pouring in; dressmaker, milliner, glover, bootmaker,
tailor, stationer, perfumer; awful bills which made Lady Maulevrier's
blood run cold, so degrading was their story of selfish self-indulgence,
of senseless extravagance. But she paid them all without a word. She
took upon her shoulders the chief burden of Lesbia's wrongdoing. It was
her indulgence, her weak preference which had fostered her
granddaughter's selfishness, trained her to vanity and worldly pride.
The result was ignominious, humiliating, bitter beyond all common
bitterness; but the cup was of her own brewing, and she drank it without
a murmur.

Parliament was prorogued; the season was over; and Lord Hartfield was
established at Fellside for the autumn--he and his wife utterly happy in
their affection for each other, but not without care as to their
surroundings, which were full of trouble. First there was Lesbia's
sorrow. Granted that it was a grief which would inevitably wear itself
out, as other such griefs have done from time immemorial; but still the
sorrow was there, at their doors. Next, there was the state of Lady
Maulevrier's health, which gave her old medical adviser the gravest
fears. At Lord Hartfield's earnest desire a famous doctor was summoned
from London; but the great man could only confirm Mr. Horton's verdict.
The thread of life was wearing thinner every day. It might snap at any
hour. In the meantime the only regime was repose of body and mind, an
all-pervading calm, the avoidance of all exciting topics. One moment of
violent agitation might prove fatal.

Knowing this, how could Lord Hartfield call her ladyship to account for
the presence of that mysterious old man under Steadman's charge?--how
venture to touch upon a topic which, by Mary's showing, had exercised a
most disturbing influence upon her ladyship's mind on that solitary
occasion when the girl ventured to a