But why does he allow her to throw herself away on a
penniless adventurer like Hawkehurst? If she were to marry him before
recovering the Haygarth estate, she would recover it as his wife, and the
fortune would be thrown unprotected into his hands."
More deliberate reflection cast a faint light upon Philip Sheldon's
motives for so quixotic a course.
"The girl had fallen in love with Val. It was too late to prevent that.
She is of age, and can marry whom she pleases. By showing himself opposed
to her engagement with Val, he might have hurried her into rebellion, and
an immediate marriage. By affecting to consent to the engagement, he
would, on the contrary, gain time, and the advantage of all those chances
that are involved in the lapse of time."
Within a few days of Christmas came the following letter from M.
Fleurus:--
_From Jacques Rousseau Fleurus to Horatio Paget_.
Hotel de la Pucelle, place Jeanne d'Arc, Rouen, 21st December, 186--.
MONSIEUR,--After exertions incalculable, after labours herculean, I come
to learn something of your Susan Meynell,--more, I come to learn of her
marriage. But I will begin at the beginning of things. The labours, the
time, the efforts, the courage, the patience, the--I will say it without
to blush--the genius which this enterprise has cost me, I will not
enlarge upon. There are things which cannot tell themselves.
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