She still thought of a possible Corsair who would be willing to give up all but his vices for her love, and for whose sake she would be willing to share even them.

It was but a dream, but nevertheless it pervaded her fancy constantly.

Lord Fawn,--peer of Parliament, and member of Her Majesty's Government, as he was,--could not have been such a lover to her.

Might it not be possible that there should exist something of romance between her and her cousin Frank?
She was the last woman in the world to run away with a man, or to endanger her position by a serious indiscretion; but there might, perhaps, be a something between her and her cousin,--a liaison quite correct in its facts, a secret understanding, if nothing more,--a mutual sympathy, which should be chiefly shown in the abuse of all their friends,--and in this she could indulge her passion for romance and poetry..