lady and the
acquired merits of the young gentleman. Mr. Vigors could easily induce
his ward to pay a visit to Lady Haughton, and Lady Haughton had only to
extend her invitations to her niece; hence the letter to Mrs. Ashleigh,
of which Mr. Vigors was the bearer, and hence my advice to you, of which
you can now understand the motive. Since you thought Lilian Ashleigh the
only woman you could love, and since I thought there were other women in
the world who might do as well for Ashleigh Sumner, it seemed to me
fair for all parties that Lilian should not go to Lady Haughton's in
ignorance of the sentiments with which she had inspired you. A girl can
seldom be sure that she loves until she is sure that she is loved.
And now," added Mrs. Poyntz, rising and walking across the room to
her bureau,--"now I will show you Lady Haughton's invitation to Mrs.
Ashleigh. Here it is!"

I ran my eye over the letter, which she thrust into my hand, resuming
her knitting-work while I read.

The letter was short, couched in conventional terms of hollow affection.
The writer blamed herself for having so long neglected her brother's
widow and child; her heart had been wrapped up too much in the son she
had lost; that loss had made her turn to the ties of blood still left to
her; she had heard much of Lilian from their common friend, Mr. Vigors;
she longed to embrace so charming a niece. Then followed the invitation
and the postscript. The postscript ran thus, so far as I can remember:--

"Whatever my own grief at my irreparable bereavement, I am no egotist;
I keep my sorrow to myself. You will find some pleasant guests at my
house, among others our joint connection, young Ashleigh Sumner."

"Woman's postscripts are proverbial for their significance," said Mrs.
Poyntz, when I had concluded the letter and laid it on the table; "and
if I did not at once show you this hypocritical effusion, it was simply
because at the name Ashleigh Sumner its object became transparent,
not perhaps to poor Anne Ashleigh nor to innocent Lilian, but to my
knowledge of the parties concerned, as it ought to be to that shrewd
intelligence which you derive partly from nature, partly from the
insight into life which a true physician cannot fail to acquire. And if
I know anything of you, you would have romantically said, had you seen
the letter at first, and understood its covert intention, 'Let me not
shackle the choice of the woman I love, and to whom an