and then come down and ask her yourself--"

"A year or two! And meantime she might think I had changed again, and
had forgotten all about her--That's too much to expect! I don't ask you
to say anything just yet, but in time to come you might drop a hint, or
let her see one of my letters, show her in any indirect way you like
that I know my own mind at last, and am working towards an end. It
isn't much to ask from an old chum--I'd do as much for you if I were in
your place."

"Humph!" quoth Jim concisely; but his grey eyes sent out a kindly gleam,
and Ned Talbot went away comforted by the knowledge that his friend
would be kinder in deed than in word, and that his message would not
fail to be delivered.

He had another friend at court to whom he gave less thought, but whose
loyalty was at least as strong as that of her brother. Nan had her own
dreams of the future, of which she breathed no word to a living soul,
but she set herself to work to clear away such difficulties as lay in
Ned's path, with her accustomed energy and daring.

"If I were a nice old gentleman with heaps of money and nothing to do, I
would give a good situation to a young fellow who was miserable and ill-
treated!" she announced to Mr Vanburgh, at the conclusion of the story
of the broken engagement; and that gentleman chuckled with enjoyment as
he listened.

"Would you, indeed? And in what capacity? I don't quite see what
situations I have to offer which would meet Mr Talbot's requirements.
There is a good deal of machinery of one sort and another involved in
the work of a house like this, but I fear it is hardly the kind which he
is accustomed to superintend."

"Don't snub me, please. I'm too reduced. I don't mean in this house,
but somewhere else where there are Works like his own. If you would
just write to the people and say how clever he is, and what a good
manager, and that you are sure they would like him!"

"But how can I be sure? I know nothing about Mr Talbot's business
capacities, and should hardly recognise him if I met him in the street!"

"But I tell you! You can trust my word; and every one likes Ned, for he
is so good and noble. He didn't want to go into the Works at all, for
he is one of those quiet, studenty sort of men, who are never so happy
as when they are in the country, alone with their books and their
thoughts. He wanted to be a literary man, but his brother died, and
there was no one else to help his f