strength to break the charm.

Mr. Cecil Burleigh was a man of genius and of soaring
ambition--well-born, well-nurtured, but as the younger son of a younger
son absolutely without patrimony. At his school and his university he
had won his way through a course of honors, and he would disappoint all
who knew him if he did not revive the traditions of his name and go onto
achieve place, power, and fame. To enter Parliament was necessary for
success in the career he desired to run, and the first step towards
Parliament for a poor young man was a prudent marriage into a family of
long standing, wide connection, and large influence in their county--so
competent authorities assured him--and all these qualifications had the
Fairfaxes of Kirkham, with a young heiress sufficiently eligible,
besides, to dispose of. The heads on each side had spoken again, and in
almost royal fashion had laid the lines for an alliance between their
houses. When Mr. Cecil Burleigh took Caen in his road to Paris, it was
with the distinct understanding that if Elizabeth Fairfax pleased him
and he succeeded in pleasing her, a marriage between them would crown
the hopes of both their families.

The gentleman had not taken long to decide that the lady would do. And
now they were on the Foam together he had opportunities enough of
wooing. He availed himself of a courtly grace of manner, with sometimes
an air of worship, which would have been tenderness had he felt like a
lover. Bessie was puzzled, and grew more and more ill at ease with him.
Absorbed in work, in thought, or in idle reverie and smoke, he appeared
natural and happy; he turned his attention to her, and was gay,
gracious, flattering, but all with an effort. She wished he would not
give himself the trouble. She hated to be made to blush and stammer in
her talk; it confused her to have him look superbly in her eyes; it made