you this: you have a chance; don't miss it. Something unpleasant is
threatening; but you may escape it. It would be madness to throw such a
chance away, and it is your duty to take advantage of it. What is there
plainer? You are engaged to no one."

Cornelia came timidly close to him. "Pray, be explicit!"

"Well!--this offer."

"Yes; but what--there is something to escape from."

Wilfrid deliberately replied: "There is no doubt of the Pater's
intentions with regard to Mrs. Chump."

"He means...?"

"He means to marry her."

"And you, Wilfrid?"

"Well, of course, he cuts me out. There--there! forgive me: but what can
I do?"

"Do you conspire--Wilfrid, is it possible?--are you an accomplice in the
degradation of our house?"

Cornelia had regained her courage, perforce of wrath. Wilfrid's singular
grey eyes shot an odd look at her. He is to be excused for not
perceiving the grandeur of the structure menaced; for it was invisible to
all the world, though a real fabric.