[The right of Translation is reserved.] London: Printed by W. Clowes and Sons, Stamford Street. CONTENTS OF VOL. III. I. SIR LIONEL GOES TO HIS WOOING. II. HE TRIES HIS HAND AGAIN. III. A QUIET LITTLE DINNER. IV. MRS. MADDEN'S BALL. V. CAN I ESCAPE? VI. A MATRIMONIAL DIALOGUE. VII. THE RETURN TO HADLEY. VIII. CAIRO. IX. THE TWO WIDOWS. X. REACHING HOME. XI. I COULD PUT A CODICIL. XII. MRS. WILKINSON'S TROUBLES. XIII. ANOTHER JOURNEY TO BOWES. XIV. MR. BERTRAM'S DEATH. XV. THE WILL. XVI. EATON SQUARE. XVII. CONCLUSION. THE BERTRAMS. VOLUME III. CHAPTER I. SIR LIONEL GOES TO HIS WOOING. Yes, they were off. All the joys of that honeymoon shall be left to the imagination of the reader. Their first conversation, as it took place in the carriage which bore them from Mr. Bertram's door, has been given. Those which followed were probably more or less of the same nature. Sir Henry, no doubt, did strive to give some touch of romance to the occasion; but in no such attempt would his wife assist him. To every material proposition that he made, she gave a ready assent; in everything she acceded to his views; she would dine at two, or at eight, as he pleased; she was ready to stay two weeks, or only two days in Paris, as best suited him; she would adapt herself to pictures, or to architecture, or to theatres, or to society, or to going on and seeing nothing, exactly as he adapted himself. She never frowned, or looked black, or had headaches, or couldn't go on, or wouldn't stay still, or turned herself into a Niobean deluge, as some ladies, and very nice ladies too, will sometimes do on their travels. But she would not talk of love, or hold his hand, or turn her cheek to his. She had made her bargain, and would keep to it. Of that which she had promised him, she would give him full measure; of that which she had not promised him--of which she had explained to him that she had nothing to give--of that she would make no attempt to give anything. So they spent their Christmas and opened the new year at Nice, and made an excursion along the Cornice road to Genoa, during which Lady Harcourt learned for the first time that the people of Italy are not so free from cold winds as is generally imagined; and then, early in February, they returned to their house in Eaton Square. How she soon became immersed in society, and he in Parliament and the County Courts, we may also leave to the imagination of the reader. In a month or two from that time, when the rigours of a London May shall have commenced, we will return to them again. In the meantime, we must go back to Hadley--the two old Bertrams, and dear Miss Baker.