take in lieu of that which he had lost?  He might still be victorious at his office, having more capacity for such victory than others around him.  But such success alone would hardly suffice for him.  Then he considered whether he might not even yet be happy in his own home,—­whether Alexandrina, when separated from her mother, might not become such a wife as he could love.  Nothing softens a man’s feelings so much as failure, or makes him turn so anxiously to an idea of home as buffetings from those he meets abroad.  He had abandoned Lily because his outer world had seemed to him too bright to be deserted.  He would endeavour to supply her place with Alexandrina, because his outer world had seemed to him too harsh to be supported.  Alas! alas! a man cannot so easily repent of his sins, and wash himself white from their stains!

When he entered the room the two ladies were sitting over the fire, as I have stated, and Crosbie could immediately perceive that the spirit of the countess was not serene.  In fact there had been a few words between the mother and child on that matter of the trousseau, and Alexandrina had plainly told her mother that if she were to be married at all she would be married with such garments belonging to her as were fitting for an earl’s daughter.  It was in vain that her mother had explained with many circumlocutional phrases, that the fitness in this respect should be accommodated rather to the plebeian husband than to the noble parent.  Alexandrina had been very firm, and had insisted on her rights, giving the countess to understand that if her orders for finery were not complied with, she would return as a spinster to Courcy, and prepare herself for partnership with Rosina.

“My dear,” said the countess, piteously, “you can have no idea of what I shall have to go through with your father.  And, of course, you could get all these things afterwards.”

“Papa has no right to treat me in such a way.  And if he would not give me any money himself, he should have let me have some of my own.”

“Ah, my dear, that was Mr Gazebee’s fault.”

“I don’t care whose fault it was.  It certainly was not mine.  I won’t have him to tell me”—­“him” was intended to signify Adolphus Crosbie—­“that he had to pay for my wedding-clothes.”

“Of course not that, my dear.”

“No; nor yet for the things which I wanted immediately.  I’d much rather go and tell him at once that the marriage must be put off.”

Alexandrina of course carried her point, the countess reflecting with a maternal devotion equal almost to that of the pelican, that the earl could not do more than kill her.  So the things were ordered as Alexandrina chose to order them, and the countess desired that the bills might be sent in to Mr Gazebee.  Much self-devotion had been displayed by the mother, but the mother thought that none had been displayed by the daughter, and therefore she had been very cross with Alexandrina.