you see Jane?"

Then Leonard told him all the story.

"What do you think she will do?" asked Tom when his brother had
finished. "Given the situation and the woman, it is rather a curious
problem."

"It may be," answered Leonard; "but as I am not an equation in algebra
yearning to be worked out, I don't quite see the fun of it. But if you
ask me what I think she will do, I should say that she will follow the
example of everybody else and desert me."

"You seem to have a poor idea of women, old fellow. I know little of
them myself and don't want to know more. But I have always understood
that it is the peculiar glory of their sex to come out strong on these
exceptional occasions. 'Woman in our hours of ease,' etc."

"Well, we shall see. But it is my opinion that women think a great deal
more of their own hours of ease than of those of anybody else. Thank
heaven, here comes our dinner!"

Thus spoke Leonard, somewhat cynically and perhaps not in the best of
taste. But, his rejoicing over its appearance notwithstanding, he did
not do much justice to the dinner when it arrived. Indeed, it would be
charitable to make allowances for this young man at that period of his
life. He had sustained a most terrible reverse, and do what he might he
could never quite escape from the shadow of his father's disgrace,
or put out of his mind the stain with which his father had dimmed the
honour of his family. And now a new misfortune hung over him. He had
just been driven with contumely from a house where hitherto he was the
most welcome of guests; he had parted, moreover, from the woman whom he
loved dearly, and under circumstances which made it doubtful if their
separation would not be final.

Leonard possessed the gift of insight into character, and more common
sense than can often be expected from a young man in love. He knew well
that the chief characteristic of Jane's nature was a tendency to yield
to the circumstances of the hour, and though he hoped against hope,
he could find no reason to suppose that she would exhibit greater
determination in the matter of their engagement than her general lack
of strength might lead him to anticipate. Besides, and here his common
sense came in, would it be wise that she should do so? After all,
what had he to offer her, and were not his hopes of future advancement
nothing better than a dream? Roughly as he had put it, perhaps Mr.
Beach was right when he told him that he, Leonard, was both