tablishment, and for the first time he
was shown the object of arrangements against which he had often in
heart rebelled. His first impulse was to exclaim that it was a great
pity, and that he could not bear that his father should have denied
himself on his account.

'Do you think these things are sacrifices to me?' said the Earl. 'My
habits were formed long ago.'

'Mine have been formed on yours,' said Louis. 'I should be encumbered
by such an income as you propose unless you would let me lay it out in
making work for the men and improving the estate, and that I had rather
you undertook, for I should be certain to do something preposterous,
and then be sorry.'

'Mrs. Ponsonby judged rightly. It was her very advice.'

'Then!' cried Louis, as if the deed were done.

'You would not find the income too large in the event of your marriage.'

'A most unlikely event!'

His father glanced towards him. If there had been a symptom of
unhappiness, relenting was near, but it so chanced that Marksedge was
reigning supreme, and he was chiefly concerned to set aside the
supposition as an obstacle to his views. The same notion as James
Frost's occurred to the Earl, that it could not be a tenacious
character which could so easily set aside an attachment apparently so
fervent, but the resignation was too much in accordance with his
desires to render him otherwise than gratified, and he listened with
complacency to Louis's plans. Nothing was fixed, but there was an
understanding that all should have due consideration.

This settled, Louis's mind recurred to the hint which his father had
thrown out, and he wondered whether it meant that the present
compliance might be further stretched, but he thought it more likely to
be merely a reference to ordinary contingencies. Things were far too
comfortable between him and his father to be disturbed by discussion,
and he might ultimately succeed better by submitting, and leaving facts
and candour to remove prejudice.

To forget perplexity in the amusement of a mystification, he brought
down his essay, concealing it ingeniously within a review flanked by
blue-books, and, when Lord Ormersfield was taking out a pair of
spectacles with the reluctance of a man not yet accustomed to them, he
asked him if he would like to hear an article on the Police question.

At first the Earl showed signs of nodding, and said there was nothing
to the purpose in all the historical curiosities at the