"

"Insignificant!"

"Perhaps you do not quite understand me, Ludovic."

"I know what insignificant means, mother."

"I think that she would not worthily fill the position which your
wife should take in the world."

"I understand what you say."

"She would not do you honour at the head of your table."

"Ah, I understand. You want me to marry some bouncing Amazon, some
pink and white giantess of fashion who would frighten the little
people into their proprieties."

"Oh, Ludovic! you are intending to laugh at me now."

"I was never less inclined to laugh in my life--never, I can assure
you. And now I am more certain than ever that your objection to Miss
Robarts arises from your not knowing her. You will find, I think,
when you do know her, that she is as well able to hold her own as
any lady of your acquaintance--aye, and to maintain her husband's
position, too. I can assure you that I shall have no fear of her on
that score."

"I think, dearest, that perhaps you hardly--"

"I think this, mother, that in such a matter as this I must choose
for myself. I have chosen; and I now ask you, as my mother, to go to
her and bid her welcome. Dear mother, I will own this, that I should
not be happy if I thought that you did not love my wife." These last
words he said in a tone of affection that went to his mother's heart,
and then he left the room.

Poor Lady Lufton, when she was alone, waited till she heard her son's
steps retreating through the hall, and then betook herself upstairs
to her customary morning work. She sat down at last as though about
so to occupy herself; but her mind was too full to allow of her
taking up her pen. She had often said to herself, in days which to
her were not as yet long gone by, that she would choose a bride
for her son, and that then she would love the chosen one with all
her heart. She would dethrone herself in favour of this new queen,
sinking with joy into her dowager state, in order that her son's wife
might shine with the greater splendour. The fondest day-dreams of her
life had all had reference to the time when her son should bring home
a new Lady Lufton, selected by herself from the female excellence of
England, and in which she might be the first to worship her new idol.
But could she dethrone herself for Lucy Robarts? Could she give up
her chair of state in order to place thereon the little girl from
the parsonage? Could she take to her heart, and treat with absolute
lov