"
"I can't marry while poor papa is like what he is," said she, as if
trying to keep hold of her purpose.
"But you can be Frank's light and hope--the prize for which he can
work."
"If--your mother will have it so--then," said Eleonora, and the sigh
that followed was one to relieve, not exhaust.
"May I tell her then?"
"You must, I suppose," said the poor girl; "but she can never wish
it to go on!"
Julius left her at her own door and went home.
As Mrs. Poynsett said, she could expect nothing better of him. "It
is quite clear," she said, "that poor Lena is right, that Frank must
not set up housekeeping with him. Even if he were certain to be
proof against temptation, it would be as bad a connection as could
be. I never thought of his being with them; but I suppose there is
nothing else to be done with him."
"Frank ought not to be exposed to the trial. The old man has a
certain influence over him."
"Though I should have thought such a hoary old wreck was nothing but
a warning. It has been a most unhappy affair from first to last;
but Lena is a good, unselfish girl, and nothing else will give Frank
a chance of happiness.
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