This passage in Lesbia's letter affected Lady Maulevrier as if a
scorpion had wriggled from underneath the sheet of paper. She folded the
letter, and laid it in the satin-lined box on her table, with a deep
sigh.

'Yes, she is in the world now, and she will ask questions. I have never
warned her against pronouncing her grandfather's name. There are some
who will not be so kind as Georgie Kirkbank; some, perhaps, who will
delight in humiliating her, and who will tell her the worst that can be
told. My only hope is that she will make a great marriage, and speedily.
Once the wife of a man with a high place in the world, worldlings will
be too wise to wound her by telling her that her grandfather was an
unconvicted felon.'

The die was cast. Lady Maulevrier might dread the hazard of evil
tongues, of slanderous memories; but she could not recall her consent to
Lesbia's _début_. The girl was already launched; she had been seen and
admired. The next stage in her career must be to be wooed and won by a
worthy wooer.




CHAPTER XXI.

ON THE DARK BROW OF HELVELLYN.


While these plans were being settled, and while Lesbia's future was the
all-absorbing subject of Lady Maulevrier's thoughts, Mary contrived to