A letter to Mr. Duncan reached the Vicarage the week after the Barham family left the Abbey, intimating that he was proposing to be at “the Ferns” in about a fortnight. It was a calm and friendly letter; not one expression or sentiment betrayed any strong emotion, nor was there the smallest allusion to the motive which had taken him abroad. Hilary was much pleased; and when she had thoughts to spare for him at all, they were of a quiet and satisfactory nature.
CHAPTER VII.
“What lady is this, whose silken attire
Gleams so rich by the light of the fire?
The ringlets on her shoulder lying,
In their flitting luster vying
With the clasp of burnished gold
Which her heavy robe doth hold.”
Tristram and Iseult.
The Barhams had been in town about a fortnight, when Hilary received a letter from Dora, inclosing another addressed to that young lady; Dora’s epistle was written in the following words: