Lord Ellingham was waiting for him; and this interview the physician now dreaded. "Are your tidings favourable, doctor?" was the nobleman's hasty and anxious inquiry. "I regret, my dear Earl," answered Lascelles, "that I should have encouraged hopes——" "Which are doomed to experience disappointment," added Arthur bitterly. "Oh! I might have anticipated this—unfortunate being that I am! But how have you ascertained that your ideas of this morning are unfounded? How have you convinced yourself that Georgiana is _not_ a prey to those mental eccentricities which your skill might reach? Has she revealed to you her motive for refusing—for rejecting me,—_me_ whom she professes to love?" "She has revealed nothing, my lord," replied the doctor solemnly. "But I have satisfied myself that monomania and Lady Hatfield are total strangers to each other." "Then must I abandon all hope!" exclaimed the Earl; "for it is evident that I am the victim of a ridiculous caprice. And yet," he added, a sudden thought striking him, "I will see her once again. She is ill—she is suffering—perhaps she will be pleased to behold me—and who knows——" "Not this evening, my lord—not this evening!" cried the doctor, stopping the nobleman who had seized his hat and was darting towards the door. "Lady Hatfield sleeps—and she must not be disturbed." But Lord Ellingham was too full of his new idea to pay any attention to the physician; and he rushed from the house. CHAPTER XVI. THE LOVER AND THE UNCLE. A few minutes brought Arthur to the residence of Lady Hatfield; and his hand was already upon the knocker, when a sudden idea struck him—and he asked himself, "How can I demand admission to the bed-chamber of Georgiana?" The madness of his project now being evident to him, he mournfully turned away, when the door suddenly opened, and a tall, stout, fine-looking man, dressed as a country squire, issued from the house. Lord Ellingham immediately recognised Sir Ralph Walsingham, Georgiana's uncle, with whom he was well acquainted. The baronet also perceived the Earl; and they shook each other cordially by the hand. "Were you about to call?" inquired Sir Ralph. "I was," answered Lord Ellingham. "Hearing of Lady Hatfield's illness——" "She is better—much better," interrupted the baronet. "I have just left her; and she has not long awoke from a profound and refreshing slumber." "I am delighted to hear these tidings," said the nobleman. The servant, seeing that Sir Ralph had stopped to converse with the Earl, still kept the door open; and, as Arthur had admitted that he was about to call, there was now no alternative save for him to leave his card. The baronet then took his arm; and they walked away together. "Georgiana is a singular being," observed Sir Ralph; "and although she is my niece, yet there are times when I hardly know what to make of her. She is too intellectual—too steady—to be capricious; and still——"