'And tell her that I hope she may be happy, and make some fellow happy who is more fortunate than I am. I shall get out of the way somewhere, so that I shall not make a fool of myself when I see it. And then he took his departure, and rode back again to The Cleeve. The happened two days before the commencement of the trial, and the day before that on which Graham was to arrive at Noningsby.
When Graham received the judge's note asking him to put up at Noningsby for the assize week, he was much astonished. It was very short.
'Dear Graham,
'As you are coming down to Alston, special in Lady Mason's case, you may as well come and stay here. Lady Staveley bids me say that she will be delighted. Your elder brethren will no doubt go back to London each night, so that you will not be expected to remain with them.
'Yours always, &c.'
What could be the intention of the judge in taking so strange a step as this? The judge had undertaken to see him in three months, having given him some faint idea that there then might be a chance of hope. But not, before one month was over, he was actually sending for him to the house, and inviting him to stay there. What would all the bar world say when they found that a young barrister was living at the judge's house during the assizes? Would it not be in every man's mouth that he was a suitor accepted both by the judge's daughter and by the judge? There would be nothing in that to go against the grain with him, if only the fact were so. That the fact should be so he could not venture to hope even on this hint; but he accepted the judge's invitation, sent his grateful thanks to Lady Staveley;—as to Lady Staveley's delight, he was sure that the judge must have romanced a little, for he had clearly recognized Lady Staveley as his enemy;—and then he prepared himself for the chances of war.
On the evening before the trial he arrived at Noningsby just in time for dinner. He had been obliged to remain an hour or two at Alston in conference with Mr. Aram, and was later than he had expected he would be. He had been afraid to come early in the day, lest by doing so he might have seemed to overstep the margin of his invitation. When he did arrive, the two ladies were already dressing, and he found the judge in the hall.
'A pretty fellow you are,' said the judge. 'It's dinner-time already, and of course you take an hour to dress.'
'Mr. Aram—' began Felix.
'Oh, yes, Mr. Aram! I'll give you fifteen minutes, but not a
