"Postscriptum.—I have had no Letter for a long While from Miss Boyle. Is she still in Bristol? I heard you had met her at The Wells. I would be Obliged if you would Tell me if she be in London and at what address.—S. C."
Rose Lyndwood folded up the letter, returned it to his pocket, and walked idly through the twilight streets to his mansion near Panton Square.
His solitary and splendid dinner over, he answered his cousin's letter in this manner, writing with a steady hand but showing a face which reflected emotions not to be forever repressed:
"My Cousin,—Accept my dear thanks, and this brief answer, for your Epistle, which was pleasant to receive and to read.
"The marriage is for the 3rd of July in St. James's Church. Very few will be present. I shall not desire my Lady's attendance.
"Afterwards we go to Paris, and shall return to Lyndwood the beginning of August, when I shall desire Marius to be at home that I may Speak with him.
"I have seen but Little of Miss Hilton; at present she is Indisposed and confined to her House.
"She sings and plays with a Charming air, but I think she hath a Melancholy disposition.
"Convey my Service to her Ladyship.—Your dutiful cousin,
"Lyndwood.
"Postscriptum.—I have not seen Miss Boyle since I was at the Wells. I believe she is still at Bristol.—L."
As the Earl sealed this letter he smiled with a sad disdain—not at what he had said, but at what lay unexpressed behind the bare sentences, and for a while he sat silent with dreaming eyes.