Sir William, in the pride of superior intellect, had heard as good as nothing of the charge against his son.

“Well,” said the squire, “think as you like, act as you like; all’s one to me.  You’re satisfied; that’s clear; and I’m some hundred of pounds out of pocket.  This major’s paying court to the widow, is he?”

“I can’t say that he is.”

“It would be a good thing for her to get married.”

“I should be glad.”

“A good thing for her, I say.”

“A good thing for him, let us hope.”

“If he can pay her debts.”

Sir William was silent, and sipped his wine.

“And if he can keep a tight hand on the reins.  That’s wanted,” said the squire.

The gentleman whose road to happiness was thus prescribed stood by Mrs. Lovell’s chair, in the drawing-room.  He held a letter in his hand, for which her own was pleadingly extended.

“I know you to be the soul of truth, Percy,” she was saying.

“The question is not that; but whether you can bear the truth.”

“Can I not?  Who would live without it?”

“Pardon me; there’s more.  You say, you admire this friend of mine; no doubt you do.  Mind, I am going to give you the letter.  I wish you simply to ask yourself now, whether you are satisfied at my making a confidant of a man in Robert Eccles’s position, and think it natural and just—­you do?”

“Quite just,” said Mrs. Lovell; “and natural?  Yes, natural; though not common.  Eccentric; which only means, hors du commun; and can be natural.  It is natural.  I was convinced he was a noble fellow, before I knew that you had made a friend of him.  I am sure of it now.  And did he not save your life, Percy?”

“I have warned you that you are partly the subject of the letter.”

“Do you forget that I am a woman, and want it all the more impatiently?”

Major Waring suffered the letter to be snatched from his hand, and stood like one who is submitting to a test, or watching the effect of a potent drug.

“It is his second letter to you,” Mrs. Lovell murmured.  “I see; it is a reply to yours.”

She read a few lines, and glanced up, blushing.  “Am I not made to bear more than I deserve?”

“If you can do such mischief, without meaning any, to a man who is in love with another woman—­,” said Percy.

“Yes,” she nodded, “I perceive the deduction; but inferences are like shadows on the wall—­they are thrown from an object, and are monstrous distortions of it.  That is why you misjudge women.  You infer one thing from another, and are ruled by the inference.”

He simply bowed.  Edward would have answered her in a bright strain, and led her on to say brilliant things, and then have shown her, as by a sudden light, that she had lost herself, and reduced her to feel the strength and safety of his hard intellect.  That was the idea in her brain.  The next moment her heart ejected it.