always
thought to be dull."

"She wouldn't like Gatherum, I'm sure."

"Have you asked her?"

"No, sir. But nobody ever did like Gatherum."

"I suppose not. And yet, Silverbridge, what a sum of money it cost!"

"I believe it did."

"All vanity; and vexation of spirit!"

The Duke no doubt was thinking of certain scenes passed at the great
house in question, which scenes had not been delightful to him. "No,
I don't suppose she would wish to live at Gatherum. The Horns was
given expressly by my uncle to your dear mother, and I should like
Mary to have the place."

"Certainly."

"You should live among your tenantry. I don't care so very much for
Matching."

"It is the one place you do like, sir."

"However, we can manage all that. Carlton Terrace I do not
particularly like; but it is a good house, and there you should hang
up your hat when in London. When it is settled, let me know at once."

"But if it should never be settled?"

"I will ask no questions; but if it be settled, tell me." Then in
Palace Yard he was turning to go, but before he did so, he said
another word leaning on his son's shoulder. "I do not think that
Mabel Grex and Major Tifto would do well together at all."

"There shall be an end to that, sir."

"God bless you, my boy!" said the Duke.

Lord Silverbridge sat in the House--or, to speak more accurately, in
the smoking-room of the House--for about an hour thinking over all
that had passed between himself and his father. He certainly had
not intended to say anything about Lady Mab, but on the spur of the
moment it had all come out. Now at any rate it was decided for him
that he must, in set terms, ask her to be his wife. The scene which
had just occurred had made him thoroughly sick of Major Tifto. He
must get rid of the Major, and there could be no way of doing this
at once so easy and so little open to observation as marriage. If he
were but once engaged to Mabel Grex the dismissal of Tifto would be
quite a matter of course. He would see Lady Mabel again on the morrow
and ask her in direct language to be his wife.

CHAPTER XXVIII

Mrs. Montacute Jones's Garden-Party

It was known to all the world that Mrs. Montacute Jones's first great
garden-party was to come off on Wednesday, 16th June, at Roehampton.
Mrs. Montacute Jones, who lived in Grosvenor Place and had a country
house in Gloucestershire, and a place for young men to shoot at in
Scotland, also kept a suburban el