CHAPTER X.
A VERY SHORT CHAPTER,--CONTAINING A VALET.
MY uncle for several weeks had flattered himself that I had quite forgotten or foregone the desire of leaving Devereux Court for London.
Good easy man! he was not a little distressed when I renewed the subject with redoubled firmness, and demanded an early period for that event.
He managed, however, still to protract the evil day.

At one time it was impossible to part with me, because the house was so full; at another time it was cruel to leave him, when the house was so empty.

Meanwhile, a new change came over me.

As the first shock of Isora's departure passed away, I began to suspect the purity of her feelings towards me.

Might not Gerald--the beautiful, the stately, the glittering Gerald--have been a successful wooer under the disguised name of Barnard, and _hence_ Isora's confusion when that name was mentioned, and hence the power which its possessor exercised over her?
This idea, once admitted, soon gained ground.