She concluded by asking him to name another hour should this one be inconvenient.

The fish took the bait. He replied that he could not imagine what importance there might be in thus meeting with a stranger, but -- joy of joys, he would be at home at the hour mentioned.

But when she called he had thought better of the matter and decided not to involve himself in a new entanglement. She was told by the manservant who opened the door that his lordship was engaged on work from which he had left strict orders he was not to be disturbed. Claire was bitterly disappointed but determined not to let the rebuff daunt her purpose. She wrote again and now, abandoning for the moment the theme of love, she asked for help in the matter of her career. She could act and she could write. His lordship was concerned in the management of Drury Lane but, if there were no opportunities there, would he read and criticize her novel?

At last he consented to meet her, and following that brief interview Claire wrote him a yet more remarkable proposal:

Have you any objection to the following plan? On Thursday evening we may go out of town together by some stage or mail about the distance of ten or twelve miles. There we shall be free and unknown; we can return the following morning.

She concluded by asking for a brief interview -- ``to settle with you where'' -- and she threw in a tribute to his ``gentle manners'' and ``the wild originality of your countenance.''