llingford's study, in which I now found myself (not
without qualms). It was a large room which mere neglect would have left
beautiful; but, unlike the rest of the house, it appeared to have been
methodically rendered depressing. His dour personality had--in his own
sanctum--overpowered the native beauty of his house. Even the charming
view of the old park was more than half hidden by blinds of an
indescribably gloomy brown, which challenged to a match the melancholy
of a drab carpet. Two or three good portraits were killed by their
surroundings--but Fillingford himself seemed in a deadly harmony with
his room. His thin gray face and whitening hair, his dull weary eyes,
and his rounded shoulders, made him and his room rather suggestive of a
funeral card--broad-edged in black, with a photograph of the late
lamented in the middle--looking as dead as the intimation told one that
unfortunately he was.

He rose for a moment to shake hands, indicating a chair for me close by
the table at which he sat. The table was covered with papers and
bundles, very neatly arranged; everything in the room was in its place
to an inch.

"I'm glad to see you, Mr. Austin," he said in reply to my apology for so
early a visit, "and if you come on business, as you say, the hour isn't
at all too early for me." He was perfectly courteous--but dry as dust.

"I come on Miss Driver's behalf. As you are probably aware, your son
Lord Lacey has done Miss Margaret Octon the honor of making her a
proposal of marriage. Miss Octon is in the position of being under Miss
Driver's care--I may perhaps call her her ward--and Miss Driver is
anxious to know whether Lord Lacey's proposal has your approval."

"Has it Miss Driver's approval?" he asked.

"Most cordially--provided it has yours. Further than that she wouldn't
wish to go without knowing your views."

He spoke slowly and deliberately. "You and I have approached this
subject before--incidentally, Mr. Austin. I have little doubt that you
gathered from that conversation that I had had another idea in my mind?"

"Yes, I rather understood that--from what you let fall."

"That idea was entirely erroneous, I suppose? Or, at all events, if ever
entertained, is abandoned now?"

We had already got on to delicate ground. "The situation seems to speak
for itself, Lord Fillingford. And I'm sure that the arrangement now
proposed has always been desired by Miss Driver."

"Miss Driver has a very great influence