r sharply at
Malcolm.

"Oh, Templeton told you that. Nice fellow--as good a specimen of a
young Briton as ever I wish to see; sensible too, and a good companion.
Yes, my sister is a bit seedy--a bad sick headache, nothing more. It is
in our family; my mother had them, and Leah takes after her. It is hard
lines, poor old girl," continued Mr. Jacobi in a feeling tone, "for she
was longing to make the Misses Templeton's acquaintance."

Malcolm returned a civil answer, and Mr. Jacobi continued--

"Templeton is a lucky fellow, between you and me and the post," in a
jocular tone. "It must be a good thing for him that his sisters have
set their faces against matrimony. Nice-looking women, both of them,
but in my humble opinion Miss Elizabeth is the most attractive.
Templeton let out to Leah the other day that she could have married a
dozen times over if she had wished to do so, only she vowed she was cut
out for an old maid."

"I don't suppose he knows anything about it," returned Malcolm, feeling
this speech was in the worst possible form. It revolted him to hear
this man even mention Elizabeth's name--he would give him no
encouragement; but Saul Jacobi, who could be dense when he chose, did
not drop the subject.

"It is rather a big place for two maiden ladies of uncertain age," he
remarked blandly; but this speech irritated Malcolm beyond endurance.

"There is nothing uncertain about the second Miss Templeton's age," he
said impatiently; "she is still a young woman." Then it struck him that
Mr. Jacobi looked a trifle crestfallen.

"Young, do you call her? Oh no, very mature and sedate, like a
middle-aged woman. Gyp Campion told me as a fact--do you know Gyp? he
is in the Hussars, and a tiptop swell in the bargain--well, Gyp let out
that his brother Owen had proposed to Miss Elizabeth Templeton years
ago at Alassio."

"Oh, I daresay," indifferently. "I think I must go back to the house
now;" it cost Malcolm an effort to be civil.

"I will walk back with you. What was I saying? Oh, she refused the poor
chap, and told him that the holy estate of matrimony had no attraction
for her, or some such rubbish. That is why I call Templeton a lucky
fellow. There is not a creature belonging to them, except a distant
cousin or two in New Zealand, so of course he will come in for
everything;" a pause here, and a furtive glance of inquiry; but Malcolm
remained mute, and his face might have been a blank wall as far as
expression