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Rh get her out of her dilemma without giving her any trouble about it. But she would get out of it somehow. It was a good thing that everybody agreed that it should not be mentioned, not even to Anne or Charlotte—Mr. Derrick promised her that—and then she could talk quietly about it to her mother. She would explain that the marriage was out of the question.

"As to visiting and correspondence," said Lady Darlington, "if the affair is to be kept quiet, it would not be advisable to permit very much of either, but still in moderation we can allow of it. Eveline will pay her promised visit to her aunt, Lady Gower, at Christmas."

"Oh! I had hoped she might have come to Stanmore then," said Mr. Derrick.

"No, that cannot be. It was an old promise that she should go to her aunt's when she was seventeen, for Lady Gower cannot be troubled with chits of children, and Eveline has looked forward to it for years. If you mean to keep this affair unknown, it would be very foolish to have much correspondence or intercourse when she is at Gower's Court," said the Earl.

John Derrick did not altogether like these arrangements, but you cannot say "no" to an Earl whose daughter you wish to marry. He had wished at once to step into the circle of