Before the end of the year Cecil Chudleigh had become Cecil O'Boyneville. The barrister was not a man to lose time in making himself master of the citadel that had capitulated, and having once obtained Cecil's consent to be his wife, he moved heaven and earth to bring about a speedy marriage. The powers that be were in this instance represented by Mrs. MacClaverhouse and the Mountjoys. The dowager was delighted to marry her penniless niece to a man who confessed that his professional income was over two thousand a-year, and that he had invested between ten and fifteen thousand in certain very profitable railway shares, the interest of which he was prepared to settle upon Lady Cecil during his lifetime, while the principal would be hers at his death. The Mountjoys and all the Nasedale visitors were delighted by the idea of a wedding, and young ladies who had heard of Cecil's engagement from Mrs. Mountjoy, and were anxious to disport themselves as bridesmaids, besieged the poor girl with entreaties, and bewildered her with their praises of Mr. O'Boyneville. Against so much friendly persuasion, with the mighty O'Boyneville swooping down upon her suddenly by all manner of express trains, and by every complication of loop-line and junction, Cecil was powerless to make any successful resistance. She had promised to be his wife. She was grateful for his affection, and she looked forward with a sense of relief to the marriage which was at least to be the end of her dependence. And then Laurence O'Boyneville's influence was not without its weight. From the hour in which Cecil had promised to be his wife, his power over her had grown stronger with every moment she spent in his society. The strength of will which had carried him triumphantly over all the obstacles in his path sustained him here; the singleness of his purpose, the depth of his feeling, invested him with a kind of dignity. That combined force of a strong will and brilliant intellect had an almost magnetic influence over Cecil. If she did not love her future husband, she at least felt that it was something to be loved by such a man, and the strong current of his will drifted her along with it. Walking in the avenue of Nasedale, under a dull October sky, with her hand under Laurence O'Boyneville's arm, and inspired with some vague sense of protection by the stalwart figure that sheltered her from the autumn wind, Cecil consented that the wedding should take place early in November. She could not oppose her lover's wishes. From the moment in which she had accepted his devotion, Mr. O'Boyneville had in a manner taken possession of her judgment and her will; and it mattered little when he claimed her entirely for his own.