She refused to write either to Moody or to Lady Lydiard informing them of her engagement; and she steadily disapproved of Miss Pink's policy of concealment, in the matter of the robbery at Lady Lydiard's house.

Her aunt could only secure her as a passive accomplice by stating family considerations in the strongest possible terms.

"If the disgrace was confined to you, my dear, I might leave you to decide.

But I am involved in it, as your nearest relative; and, what is more, even the sacred memories of your father and mother might feel the slur cast on them." This exaggerated language--like all exaggerated language, a mischievous weapon in the arsenal of weakness and prejudice--had its effect on Isabel.

Reluctantly and sadly, she consented to be silent.
Miss Pink wrote word of the engagement to Moody first; reserving to a later day the superior pleasure of informing Lady Lydiard of the very event which that audacious woman had declared to be impossible.