ies
of life. His kinsman, meanwhile, was having a great deal of talk with
Bessie Alden--on the red sea rocks beyond the lawn; in the course of
long island rides, with a slow return in the glowing twilight; on the
deep veranda late in the evening. Lord Lambeth, who had stayed at many
houses, had never stayed at a house in which it was possible for a young
man to converse so frequently with a young lady. This young lady
no longer applied to Percy Beaumont for information concerning his
lordship. She addressed herself directly to the young nobleman. She
asked him a great many questions, some of which bored him a little; for
he took no pleasure in talking about himself.

"Lord Lambeth," said Bessie Alden, "are you a hereditary legislator?"

"Oh, I say!" cried Lord Lambeth, "don't make me call myself such names
as that."

"But you are a member of Parliament," said the young girl.

"I don't like the sound of that, either."

"Don't you sit in the House of Lords?" Bessie Alden went on.

"Very seldom," said Lord Lambeth.

"Is it an important position?" she asked.

"Oh, dear, no," said Lord Lambeth.

"I should think it would be very grand," said Bessie Alden, "to possess,
simply by an accident of birth, the right to make laws for a great
nation."

"Ah, but one doesn't make laws. It's a great humbug."

"I don't believe that," the young girl declared. "It must be a great
privilege, and I should think that if one thought of it in the right
way--from a high point of view--it would be very inspiring."

"The less one thinks of it, the better," Lord Lambeth affirmed.

"I think it's tremendous," said Bessie Alden; and on another occasion
she asked him if he had any tenantry. Hereupon it was that, as I have
said, he was a little bored.

"Do you want to buy up their leases?" he asked.

"Well, have you got any livings?" she demanded.

"Oh, I say!" he cried. "Have you got a clergyman that is looking out?"
But she made him tell her that he had a castle; he confessed to but one.
It was the place in which he had been born and brought up, and, as he
had an old-time liking for it, he was beguiled into describing it a
little and saying it was really very jolly. Bessie Alden listened with
great interest and declared that she would give the world to see such
a place. Whereupon--"It would be awfully kind of you to come and
stay there," said Lord Lambeth. He took a vague satisfaction in the
circumstance that Percy Beaumont had not