n. But Albion, it is whispered,
possesses other attractions for her besides appreciative audiences. In
brief, though she will of course appear under the old name, she will in
reality have changed it for one of another nationality before presenting
herself in the radiance of the footlights. The happy man is Mr. Hubert
Eldon, late of Wanley Manor. We felicitate Mr. Eldon.'

Mrs. Waltham's hands trembled as she doubled the sheet: there was a
gleam of pleasure on her face.

'Give me the paper when you have done with it,' she said.

Alfred laughed, and whistled a tune as he continued the perusal of Mr.
Keene's political and social intelligence, on the whole as trustworthy
as the style in which it was written was terse and elegant. Adela,
finding she could feign indifference no longer, went from the room.

'Where did you get this?' Mrs. Waltham asked with eagerness as soon as
the girl was gone.

'From the writer himself,' Alfred replied, visibly proud of his intimacy
with a man of letters. 'Fellow called Keene. Had a long talk with him.'

'About this?'

'Oh, no. I've only just come across it. But he said he'd marked
something for Mutimer. I'm to pass the paper on to him.'

'I suppose this is the same woman--?'

'No doubt.'

'You think it's true?'

'True? Why, of course it is. A newspaper with a reputation to support
can't go printing people's names at haphazard. Keene's very thick with
all the London actors. He told me some first-class stories about--'

'Never mind,' interposed his mother. 'Well, to think it should come to
this! I'm sure I feel for poor Mrs. Eldon. Really there is no end to her
misfortunes.'

'Just how such families always end up,' observed Alfred complacently.
'No doubt he'll drink himself to death, or something of that kind, and
then we shall have the pleasure of seeing a new tablet in the church,
inscribed with manifold virtues; or even a stained-glass window: the
last of the Eldons deserves something noteworthy.'

'I think it's hardly a subject for joking, Alfred. It is very, very sad.
And to think what a fine handsome boy he used to be! But he was always
dreadfully self-willed.'

'He was always an impertinent puppy! How he'll play the swell on his
wife's earnings! Oh, our glorious aristocracy!'

Mrs. Waltham went early to her daughter's room. Adela was sitting with
her Bible before her--had sat so since coming upstairs, yet had not read
three consecutive verses. Her face showed no eff