CHAPTER XXII.
AT LIDFORD AGAIN.
Gilbert Fenton called in Queen Anne's Court within a few hours of Marian's departure, and was not a little disappointed when he was told that she had gone back to Hampshire.

He had relied upon seeing her again--not once only, but several times--before her return.

He had promised Jacob Nowell that he would watch over and protect her interests; and it was a sincere unqualified wish to do this that influenced him now.
More than a dear friend, the sweetest and dearest of all womankind, she could never be to him.

He accepted the position with resignation.

The first sharp bitterness of her loss was over.