d-looking young man, as a well-dressed young man, as an educated
and cultured man, as a man of the clubs, and of society, and, when
occasion required, as a very sensible man of business, Mr Croft might
be looked upon as essentially a commonplace personage, and in our walks
abroad we meet a great many like him. But there dwelt within him a
certain disposition, which, at times, removed him to quite a distance
from the arena in which commonplace people go through their prescribed
performances. He would come to a determination, generally quite
suddenly, to attain a desired end in his own way, without any reference
to traditionary or conventional methods; and the more original and
startling these plans the better he liked it.

This disposition it was which made Lawrence read with so much interest
the account of the defeated general who made the cavalry charge into the
camp of his victorious enemy. Defeat had been his, all through his short
campaign, and it now seemed that the time had come to make another bold
effort to get the better of his bad luck. As he could not woo Miss March
himself, he must get some one else to do it for him, or, if not actually
to woo the lady, to get her at least into such a frame of mind that she
would allow him to woo her, even in spite of his present disadvantages.
This would be a very bold stroke, but Lawrence put a good deal of faith
in it.

If Miss March were properly talked to by one of her own sex, she might
see, as perhaps she did not now see, how cruel was her line of conduct
toward him, and might be persuaded to relent, at least enough to allow
his voice to reach her; and that was all he asked for. He had not the
slightest doubt that the widow Keswick would gladly consent to carry any
message he chose to send to Miss March, and, more than that, to throw
all the force of her peculiar style of persuasion into the support of
his cause. But this, he knew very well, would finish the affair, and not
at all in the way he desired. The person he wanted to act as his envoy
was Mrs Null. To be sure, she had refused to act for him, but he thought
he could persuade her. She was quiet, she was sensible, and could talk
very gently and confidingly when she chose; she would say just what he
told her to say, and if a contingency demanded that she should add
anything, she would probably do it very prudently. But then it would be
almost as difficult to communicate with her as with Miss March.

While he wa