"Cut his little finger," said Cecilia. Had she dreamed of what was to come she would not have turned Sir Francis into ridicule. But she had been aware of Miss Altifiorla's friendship with Sir Francis,--or rather what she had regarded as an affectation of friendship, and did not for a moment anticipate such a communication as was to be made to her. "Cecilia Holt--" "That at any rate is not my name." "I dare say you wish it were." "I would not change my real name for that of any woman under the sun." "Perhaps not; but there are other women in a position of less grandeur. I am going to change mine." "No!" "I thought you would be surprised because it would look as though I were about to abandon my great doctrine. It is not so. My opinions on that great subject are not in the least changed. But of course there must be some women whom the exigencies of the world will require to marry." "A good many, first and last." "About the good many I do not at this moment concern myself. My duty is clearly before me and I mean to perform it. I have been asked to ally myself--;" then there was a pause, and the speaker discovered when it was too late that she was verging on the ridiculous in declaring her purpose of forming an alliance;--"that is to say, I am going to marry Sir Francis Geraldine." "Sir Francis Geraldine!" "Do you see any just cause or impediment?" "None in the least. And yet how am I to answer such a question? I saw cause or impediment why I should not marry him." "You both saw it, I suppose?" said Miss Altifiorla, with an air of grandeur. "You both supposed that you were not made for each other, and wisely determined to give up the idea. You did not remain single, and I suppose we need not either." "Certainly not for my sake." "Our intimacy since that time has been increased by circumstances, and we have now discovered that we can both of us best suit our own interests by an--" "An alliance," suggested Mrs. Western. "If you please,--though I am quite aware that you use the term as a sneer." As to this Mrs. Western was too honest to deny the truth, and remained silent. "I thought it proper," continued Miss Altifiorla, "as we had been so long friends, to inform you that it will be so. You had your chance, and as you let it slip I trust that you will not envy me mine." "Not in the least." "At any rate you do not congratulate me." "I have been very remiss. I acknowledge it. But upon my word the news has so startled me that I have been unable to remember the common courtesies of the world. I thought when I heard of your travelling up to London together that you were becoming very intimate."