you too, I see, have had letters,--I understand. Lady Mary gives these
reasons for withholding her consent."

"Her consent is not withheld," answered Percival; "but shall I own it?
Remember, I have your promise not to wound and offend Madame Dalibard by
the disclosure: my mother does refer to the subjects I have alluded to,
and Captain Greville, my old friend and tutor, is on his way to England;
perhaps to-morrow he may arrive at Laughton."

"Ha!" said Varney, startled, "to-morrow! And what sort of a man is this
Captain Greville?"

"The best man possible for such a case as mine,--kind-hearted, yet cool,
sagacious; the finest observer, the quickest judge of character,--nothing
escapes him. Oh, one interview will suffice to show him all Helen's
innocent and matchless excellence."

"To-morrow! this man comes to-morrow!"

"All that I fear is,--for he is rather rough and blunt in his manner,--
all that I fear is his first surprise, and, dare I say displeasure, at
seeing this poor Madame Dalibard, whose faults, I fear, were graver than
you suppose, at the house from which her uncle--to whom, indeed, I owe
this inheritance--"

"I see, I see!" interrupted Varney, quickly. "And Madame Dalibard is the
most susceptible of women,--so well-born and so poor, so gifted and so
helpless; it is natural. Can you not write, and put off this Captain
Greville for a few days,--until, indeed, I can find some excuse for
terminating our visit?"