coming on quickly, and as he was to be made a possession of them for ever, it was considered to be safe and well to allow him some liberty in his present condition.  ’My dear, if they are driven, there is no knowing what they won’t do,’ Mrs French said to her daughter.  Camilla had submitted with compressed lips and a slight nod of her head.  She had worked very hard, but her day of reward was coming.  It was impossible not to perceive both for her and her mother that the scantiness of Mr Gibson’s attention to his future bride was cause of some weak triumph to Arabella.  She said that it was very odd that he did not come and once added with a little sigh that he used to come in former days, alluding to those happy days in which another love was paramount.  Camilla could not endure this with an equal mind.  ’Bella, dear,’ she said, ’we know what all that means.  He has made his choice, and if I am satisfied with what he does now, surely you need not grumble.’  Miss Stanbury’s illness had undoubtedly been a great source of contentment to the family at Heavitree, as they had all been able to argue that her impending demise was the natural consequence of her great sin in the matter of Dorothy’s proposed marriage.  When, however, they heard from Mr Martin that she would certainly recover, that Sir Peter’s edict to that effect had gone forth, they were willing to acknowledge that Providence, having so far punished the sinner, was right in staying its hand and abstaining from the final blow.  ’I’m sure we are delighted,’ said Mrs French, ’for though she has said cruel things of us and so untrue, too, yet of course it is our duty to forgive her.  And we do forgive her.’

Dorothy had written three or four notes to Brooke since his departure, which contained simple bulletins of her aunt’s health.  She always began her letters with ‘My dear Mr Burgess,’ and ended them with ’yours truly.’  She never made any allusion to Brooke’s declaration of love, or gave the slightest sign in her letters to shew that she even remembered it.  At last she wrote to say that her aunt was convalescent; and, in making this announcement, she allowed herself some enthusiasm of expression.  She was so happy, and was so sure that Mr Burgess would be equally so!  And her aunt had asked after her ‘dear Brooke,’ expressing her great satisfaction with him, in that he had come down to see her when she had been almost too ill to see anyone.  In answer to this there came to her a real love-letter from Brooke Burgess.  It was the first occasion on which he had written to her.  The little bulletins had demanded no replies, and had received none.  Perhaps there had been a shade of disappointment on Dorothy’s side, in that she had written thrice, and had been made rich with no word in return.  But, although her heart had palpitated on hearing the postman’s knock, and had palpitated in vain, she had told herself that it was all as it should be.  She wrote to him, because she possessed information which it was necessary that she should communicate.  He did not write to her, because there was nothing for him to tell.  Then had come the love-letter, and in the love-letter there was an imperative demand for a reply.