y wedding, and be very good to me,--a
kind of brother, you know; for we have always been
friends;--haven't we? And if the dean doesn't come up to
town, you must give me away. And you must come and see me
ever so often; for I have a sort of feeling that I have
no one else belonging to me that I can call really my
own, except you. And you must be great friends with Lord
Fawn, and must give up saying that he doesn't do his work
properly. Of course he does everything better than anybody
else could possibly do it,--except Cousin Frank.

I am going down next week to Richmond. Lady Fawn has
insisted on my staying there for a fortnight. Oh, dear,
what shall I do all the time? You must positively come
down and see me,--and see somebody else too! Only, you
naughty coz! you mustn't break a poor girl's heart.

Your affectionate cousin,

ELI. EUSTACE.

Somebody, in speaking on Lady Eustace's behalf, and making the best
of her virtues, had declared that she did not have lovers. Hitherto
that had been true of her;--but her mind had not the less dwelt on
the delight of a lover. She still thought of a possible Corsair who
would be willing to give up all but his vices for her love, and
for whose sake she would be willing to share even them. It was but
a dream, but nevertheless it pervaded her fancy constantly. Lord
Fawn,--peer of Parliament, and member of Her Majesty's Government,
as he was,--could not have been such a lover to her. Might it not
be possible that there should exist something of romance between
her and her cousin Frank? She was the last woman in the world to
run away with a man, or to endanger her position by a serious
indiscretion; but there might, perhaps, be a something between her
and her cousin,--a liaison quite correct in its facts, a secret
understanding, if nothing more,--a mutual sympathy, which should be
chiefly shown in the abuse of all their friends,--and in this she
could indulge her passion for romance and poetry.

CHAPTER XI

Lord Fawn at His Office

The news was soon all about London,--as Lizzie had intended. She had
made a sudden resolve that Lord Fawn should not escape her, and she
had gone to work after the fashion we have seen. Frank Greystock had
told John Eustace, and John Eustace had told Mr. Camperdown before
Lord Fawn himself, in the slow prosecution of his purpose, had
consulted the lawyer about the necklace. "God bless my soul;-