tand
that."

She looked him so sweetly and seriously in the face as she spoke, and
was so completely unaware of any flaw in her reply, that Jock,
argumentative as he was, only gasped and said nothing more. And it was
in this pause of their conversation that they swept up to Mr. Rushton's
door. Mr. Rushton was the town-clerk of Farafield, the most important
representative of legal knowledge in the place. He had been the late Mr.
Trevor's man of business, and had still the greater part of Lucy's
affairs in his hands. He had known her from her childhood, and in the
disturbed chapter of her life before her marriage, his wife had taken a
great deal of notice, as she expressed it, of Lucy: and young Raymond,
who had now settled down in the office as his father's partner (but
never half such a man as his father, in the opinion of the community),
had done her the honour of paying her his addresses. But all that had
passed from everybody's mind. Mrs. Rushton, never very resentful, was
delighted now to receive Lady Randolph's invitation, and proud of the
character of an old friend. And if Raymond occasionally showed a little
embarrassment in Lucy's presence, that was only because he was by nature
awkward in the society of ladies, and according to his own description
never knew what to say.

"And what can I do for your ladyship this morning?" Mr. Rushton said,
rising from his chair. His private room was very warm and comfortable,
too warm, the visitors thought, as an office always is to people going
in from the fresh air. The fire burned with concentrated heat, and Lucy,
in her furs and suppressed agitation, felt her very brain confused. As
for Jock, he lounged in the background with his hands in his pockets,
reading the names upon the boxes that lined the walls, and now that it
had come to the crisis, feeling truly helpless to aid his sister, and
considerably in the way.

"It is a very serious business," said Lucy, drawing her breath hard. "It
is a thing you have never liked or approved of, Mr. Rushton, nor any
one," she added, in a faint voice.

"Dear me, that is very unfortunate," said the lawyer, cheerfully; "but I
don't think you have ever been much disapproved of, Lady Randolph. Come,
there is nothing you can't talk to me about--an old friend. I was in
all your good father's secrets, and I never saw a better head for
business. Why, this is Jock, I believe, grown into a man almost! I
wonder if he has any of his father's