And all the time he thought of his bondage, the oars dipped gaily into the water, and the editor and Mrs. Jerningham talked of literature and art, and fashion and horticulture; and Lucy was satisfied with the delight of hearing that one dear voice which made the most commonplace conversation a kind of poetry. There are no limits to the sentimentality of inexperienced girlhood. Young ladies in society had calculated Mr. Desmond’s income to a sixpence, and had assessed all the advantages of his position, his chances of a seat in Parliament by and by, with every remote contingency of his career. But if he had indeed been Lancelot, and herself Elaine the fair, Lucy Alford could scarcely have regarded him with more reverent affection. And all this he had won for himself by a little Christianlike compassion, and an expenditure of something under fifty pounds. CHAPTER VI. “COULD LOVE PART THUS?” THE happy week went by, and at the close of it came the end of the world, as it seemed to Lucy Alford. “Good news, Lucy!” Mrs. Jerningham said, one morning, as she opened her letters at the breakfast-table; “good news for you.” “For _me_,” faltered Miss Alford, blushing; “what good news can there be for me?” What indeed? Was not Laurence Desmond’s holiday to end to-morrow? This afternoon they were to have their last row on the Thames. “Yes, Lucy. You remember what I told you about Mrs. Fitzpatrick, that delightful person in Ireland. I wrote to her a few days ago, you know, telling her of my plans for you,--for she is just one of those good, motherly creatures who are always ready to help one,--and it happens most fortunately that she can take you herself. Her own governess--a young person who had been with her five years--has lately married, and she has tried in vain to find any one she likes. You are to go to her at once, dear, with a salary of sixty pounds. The situation will be a delightful one, you will be quite one of the family, and they live in a noble old stone house, in a great wilderness of a park, only fifteen miles from Limerick.”