I was bound, as your confidante, to consult your own scruples of honour.

Of course I could not say point-blank to Mrs.
Ashleigh, 'Dr.Fenwick admires your daughter, would you object to him as a son-in-law ?' Of course I could not touch at all on the secret with which you intrusted me; but I have not the less arrived at a conclusion, in agreement with my previous belief, that not being a woman of the world, Annie Ashleigh has none of the ambition which women of the world would conceive for a daughter who has a good fortune and considerable beauty; that her predominant anxiety is for her child's happiness, and her predominant fear is that her child will die.

She would never oppose any attachment which Lilian might form; and if that attachment were for one who had preserved her daughter's life, I believe her own heart would gratefully go with her daughter's.

So far, then, as honour is concerned, all scruples vanish." I sprang from my seat, radiant with joy.

Mrs.Poyntz dryly continued: "You value yourself on your common-sense, and to that I address a few words of counsel which may not be welcome to your romance.