CHAPTER IX.
OUT of our reach the gods have laid Of time to come the event; And laugh to see the fools afraid Of what the knaves invent .-- SEDLEY, _from Lycophron_.
THE next day Caroline returned to the rectory in Lady Raby's carriage; and two hours after her arrival came Lord Vargrave.

Mr.Merton had secured the principal persons in the neighbourhood to meet a guest so distinguished, and Lord Vargrave, bent on shining in the eyes of Evelyn, charmed all with his affability and wit.

Evelyn, he thought, seemed pale and dispirited.

He pertinaciously devoted himself to her all the evening.

Her ripening understanding was better able than heretofore to appreciate his abilities; yet, inwardly, she drew comparisons between his conversation and that of Maltravers, not to the advantage of the former.