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Rh know how to manage him; flattery it never entered her head to use. Moreover, he required to be entreated and persuaded. Had she, from the very first, urged her attachment to Robert Evelyn, by this time he would have become accustomed to it—nay, perhaps have exerted himself in its favour for the mere sake of showing his power. But, shy and reserved, Francesca shrank from dwelling on her feelings to one who appeared so careless of them. Father and daughter had nothing in common; and the familiarity of domestic life, instead of drawing them more closely together, only served to make the distance more apparent.

But, in the present case, Lord Avonleigh was a tool in the hands of Buckingham, who, having come down prepared to woo and win the beautiful heiress, could not brook disappointment. Indifference—and Francesca's was obvious—in a woman to himself could be accounted for but by one cause, a preference to another. To discover that rival, and revenge himself on him when found, were things of course. With that attention to trifles which constitutes so large a part of the genius for intrigue, he had noted slight signs of an altered bearing in Francesca during the last two days: there must be some reason—either she had seen