This, however, the wilful girl would not do.  She enjoyed the present condition of affairs too well, and was not without hope, also, that her father was mistaken; for she felt sure, from Graydon’s manner, that he was not aware of his brother’s financial peril, and this fact inclined her to doubt its existence.  She was actuated by the feeling that she had given much time and encouragement to Graydon, and that now Arnault should have his turn.  Madge had been invisible since the storm, and there was nothing to indicate that Graydon was disposed to give her much thought.  Miss Wildmere’s natural supposition was that he and Madge had been like brother and sister once, and that the form of the relation still existed, but that in their long separation they had grown somewhat indifferent toward each other.  She believed that the solicitude she had seen in Madge’s face, on the evening so memorable in the latter’s experience, was due to the jealousy of an immature, sickly girl, who had been so humored as to feel that Graydon belonged to her.  She naturally believed that if there had been anything beyond this, it would have been developed by correspondence, or else indifference on both sides would not now be so palpable.  She disliked Madge chiefly as a rival in beauty and admiration.  Nothing could be more clear than that Graydon was completely under the spell of her own fascination, and that Madge was receiving even scant fraternal regard.  All she feared was, that during the process of keep him “well in hand” he might become more conscious of Madge’s attractions, which she recognized, however much she decried them openly.  Even if compelled by circumstances to accept Arnault, she proposed to herself the triumph of rejecting Graydon, and thought she could do this so skilfully as to give the idea that he had made a deep impression on her heart, and so eventually win him again as one of her devoted followers in the future.  This product of fashionable society had not the slightest intention of giving up her career as a belle for the sake of Mr. Arnault or any one else.  She had more liking and less fear for Graydon than for Arnault.  The latter was an open, resolute suitor, but she knew that he was controlled more by ambition than by affection—­that he would yield everything and submit to anything up to a certain point.  The moment she jeopardized his prestige before the world, or interfered with his scheme of success, she would meet rock-like obduracy, both before and after marriage.  She knew that Graydon had a sincere affection for her, and a faith in her which, even in her egotism, she was aware was unmerited—­that he had a larger, gentler, and more tolerant nature, and would be easier to manage than Arnault.