"The next day the change in her became very visible to me. She told me,
in an excited manner, that she was convinced she ought not to marry you.
Then came, the following day, the news of your committal. I heard of it,
but dared not break it to her. I went to our friend the mayor, to consult
with him what to say, what to do; and to learn more distinctly than I had
done from terrified, incoherent servants, the rights of so dreadful a
story. When I returned, I found, to my amazement, a young stranger in the
drawing-room; it was Mr. Margrave,--Miss Brabazon had brought him at his
request. Lilian was in the room, too, and my astonishment was increased,
when she said to me with a singular smile, vague but tranquil: 'I know all
about Allen Fenwick; Mr. Margrave has told me all. He is a friend of
Allen's. He says there is no cause for fear.' Mr. Margrave then
apologized to me for his intrusion in a caressing, kindly manner, as if
one of the family. He said he was so intimate with you that he felt that
he could best break to Miss Ashleigh information she might receive
elsewhere, for that he was the only man in the town who treated the charge
with ridicule. You know the wonderful charm of this young man's manner.
I cannot explain to you how it was, but in a few moments I was as much at
home with him as if he had been your brother. To be brief, having once
come, he came constantly. He had moved, two days before you went to
Derval Court, from his hotel to apartments in Mr. ----'s house, just
opposite. We could see him on his balcony from our terrace; he would
smile to us and come across. I did wrong in slighting your injunction,
and suffering Lilian to do so. I could not help it, he was such a
comfort to me,--to her, too--in her tribulation. He alone had no doleful
words, wore no long face; he alone was invariably cheerful. 'Everything,'
he said, 'would come right in a day or two.'"

"And Lilian could not but admire this young man, he is so beautiful."