obeying her command and the pressure on his hand, he resumed his
seat beside her.

She spoke now at length and very gravely, dwelling upon the
circumstance that he was the head of the family, the last Westmacott
of his line, pointing out to him the importance of his existence,
the insignificance of her own. She was but a girl, a thing of small
account where the perpetuation of a family was at issue. After all,
she must marry somebody some day, she repeated, and perhaps she had
been foolish in attaching too much importance to the tales she had
heard of Mr. Wilding. Probably he was no worse than other men, and
after all he was a gentleman of wealth and position, such a man as
half the women in Somerset might be proud to own for husband.

Her arguments and his weakness - his returning cowardice, which made
him lend an ear to those same arguments - prevailed with him; at
least they convinced him that he was far too important a person to
risk his life in this quarrel upon which he had so rashly entered.
He did not say that he was convinced; but he said that he would give
the matter thought, hinting that perhaps some other way might present
itself of cancelling the bargain she had made. They had a week
before them, and in any case he promised readily in answer to her
entreaties - for her faith in him was a thing unquenchable - that he
would do nothing without taking counsel with her.

Meanwhile Diana had escorted Sir Rowland to the main gates of Lupton
House, in front of which Miss Westmacott's groom was walking his horse,
awaiting him.

"Sir Rowland," said she at parting, "your chivalry makes you take this