‘I think enmity is better declared than secret, Celia,’ answered Mrs. Lorraine tranquilly. ‘You have always been Philip’s enemy, and you know it.’ ‘And now you shall learn what my enmity is like, and how it can affect your idolized nephew. Tell him to look to himself!’ And Mrs. Belassis, with a vindictive scowl at her daring sister, turned and quitted the room and the house, feeling for once that she was foiled. Lewis had gone to the garden-party whither Maud was bound; and he had gone thither with the fixed intention of having some serious conversation with her. This intention was partly the result of his own impatience, and his desire to come to some more definite understanding with his pretty cousin, and partly on account of a conversation he had had with his father upon the previous evening, in which Belassis had urged upon him with much force and feeling, the absolute necessity there was for him to marry Maud; and had begged that he would not lose the opportunity afforded by the brother’s absence. He felt certain that Maud would be more easily influenced in Philip’s absence than if he were upon the spot; and he implored his son with feverish energy to lose no time, and to risk everything rather than let his cousin throw him over. His father’s excited manner left an uneasy impression upon Lewis’s mind. He could not see why it should be a life-and-death matter to anyone but himself, and yet there was no mistaking the eagerness of the elder Belassis. Lewis knew enough of his father to make him distrustful of such earnestness. At the same time he was willing enough to talk to Maud, for he feared now that she was slipping from him, and he was determined not to yield her up without a struggle. Poor Lewis! He felt sometimes as though he had deserved a better parentage and better prospects. He had been brought up in gentlemanly idleness, to satisfy his father’s idea of grandeur and his mother’s family pride, and was always considered a very lucky fellow, who would marry an heiress, or at least inherit her fortune, and succeed at length to the broad acres attached to Thornton House. But of late an uncomfortable idea had suggested itself to Lewis, that things were not quite so satisfactory as he had believed. His father’s manner often perplexed him. His mother looked gloomy and disturbed, and he could not but fancy that some danger, unknown to him, threatened them at this time. So it was in a rather dejected frame of mind that Lewis met Maud that afternoon, and dejection is not the most favourable of moods in which to commence a love-passage. Maud was looking unusually bright and animated, and was always the centre of an admiring circle. It was some time before Lewis could gain possession of her, even for a few minutes, and not until quite the close of the afternoon that he succeeded in leading her away to a more secluded spot, beyond the reach of curious eyes or sharp ears.