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Rh nerving herself to fulfil the resolution which she had instantly taken. The walk was short; yet what a world of emotion passed in its brief limit! Lord Avonleigh was bewildered and undecided; he was like a man who, having received some great shock, stands dizzy and pained, but quite unprepared to meet its consequences. Not so with Francesca. She knew that every vision in which she had indulged was annihilated at a blow; she saw at a glance the disadvantages of her future position. But only from one image did she turn away: she could not bear the thought of Evelyn. Still her mind was determined. No name, no rank, no wealth, no dream of love fulfilled, could reconcile her to purchase them at the expense of another. "I," thought she, "Am used to adversity—I know how to bear and suffer; and sometimes I think that my spirits are too much broken to enjoy happiness, even if it came. But my brother—let me call him by that name, and fill my mind with the claims of so near and dear a tie—he is in the first flush of youth and hope, and knows not how the one will darken and the other deceive. Can I bear to write shame on that fair young brow—send him forth a wanderer from the home of which he has been the delight—sow dissension between a father and son, who now idolise each other?