as won several
cups in regimental races.'

"That is the end of that paragraph," said Nell, stifling a yawn, and
glancing longingly through the window at the sea dancing in the
sunlight. "Do you want any more?"

"Is there any?" asked Mr. Vernon grimly. "If so, we'd better have it,
perhaps."

"Certainly," said Mrs. Lorton. "If there is anything I dislike more than
another, it is incomplete information. Go on Eleanor."

Nell sighed and took up the precious paper again.

"'As is well known'--they always say that, because it flatters the
readers, I suppose," she went on parenthetically--"'Lord Selbie is a
"Lord" in consequence of his father, Mr. Herbert Selbie, the famous
diplomatist, having been created a viscount; but, though he bears this
title, we fancy Lord Selbie cannot be well off. The kind of life he has
led since his advent in society must have strained his resources to the
utmost, and we should not be far wrong if we described him as a poor
man. This marriage of his uncle, the Earl of Angleford, must, therefore,
be a serious blow to him, and may cause his complete retirement from the
circles of _ton_ in which he has shone so brilliantly. Lord Selbie, as
we stated last week, is engaged to the daughter of Lord Turfleigh.'"

Nell dropped the paper and struggled with a portentous yawn.

"Thank you very much, Miss Lorton," said Mr. Vernon politely, with a
half smile on his impassive face. "It is, as Mrs. Lorton says, very
interesting."

Nell stared at him; then, seeing the irony in his eyes and on his lips,
smiled.

"I thought for the moment that you meant it," she said quietly.

Mrs. Lorton heard, and sniffed at her.

"My dear Eleanor, what do you mean?" she inquired stiffly. "Of course,
Mr. Vernon is interested. Why should he say so if he were not? I'm
afraid, Eleanor, that you are of opinion that nothing but fiction has
any claim on our attention, and that anything real and true is of no
account. I may be old-fashioned and singular, but I find that these
small details of the lives of our aristocracy are full of interest, not
to say edifying. What do you think, Mr. Vernon?"

He had been gazing absently out of the window, but he pulled himself
together, and came up to the scratch with a jerk.

"Certainly, certainly," he said.

Mrs. Lorton smiled triumphantly.

"You see, Eleanor, Mr. Vernon quite agrees with me. I must go and see if
Molly has put the jelly in the window to cool. Meanwhile, Mr. Vernon