Spiridion had been admitted to the confidence of the affianced pair, and had experienced no difficulty worth speaking of in reconciling himself to the spectacle of his rival's happiness, though he wrote some sweetly pretty verses expressive of the torments of such a situation, which Mr. Shamus O'Voca set to music, and a Diva actually sang at some of the best concerts last season. The torments in question were, however, of the mildest, and, as a matter of fact, Spiridion Pratt enjoyed himself immensely under the novel conditions of his being. How much share in his peaceful serenity his enfranchisement from Mrs. Hamblin had, it would be ungenerous to inquire; and, indeed, it is not likely that Spiridion ever asked himself the question. _She_ did, however, and she hated Eleanor as Spiridion's friend only a little less bitterly than she hated Spiridion himself. When the marriage of Miss Irvine with Sir Nugent Uffington was announced, only a few days before its occurrence, Mrs. Hamblin saw her way, having saved appearances, to backing out of a position which had served her purpose, and was fast becoming an intolerable bore. She assumed a tone of high and cold morality. 'She ventured, in consideration of dear Mrs. Chadwick's _comparative_ ignorance of the world--Mrs. Chadwick must bear in mind that the London world, in which she was even yet hardly _lancée_, had been Mrs. Hamblin's proper home and element since her early girlhood--to inquire whether she was altogether aware of the serious responsibility she was incurring by intrusting her sister's fortune, its happiness and its credit, to such a man as Sir Nugent Uffington? Did Mrs. Chadwick know the dreadfully disgraceful history of his past life? Was she aware that he had never shown the slightest deference to the opinion of society; that, in short, the--the _affaire_ Mudge had lasted until the death of the creature? Mrs. Hamblin could hardly conceive the possibility of a lady like Mrs. Chadwick, whose former sphere must have accustomed her to much more serious views on questions of the kind than those prevalent in the wretched world of fashion, being satisfied to place a young girl's welfare in such hands. She felt sure that Mrs. Chadwick, and especially Mr. Chadwick--such a straightforward, honest, good sort of man as he was--could not be in full possession of the facts; and though she never offered advice, or interfered in other people's affairs, she really must depart from her rule in this case, as she felt a genuine interest in Mrs. Chadwick, and could not bear the idea that her inexperience of society was possibly being imposed upon.'