They pleaded with her to marry the Duke, but she steadfastly refused, and pined on.

Then they laid a plan.

They told her to wait a year and a day, and if at the end of that time she still felt that she could not marry the Duke, she might marry the lawyer with their full consent.

The result was as they had foreseen: gladness came again, and the flush of returning health.

Then the parents took the next step in their scheme.