what he had said they
could never stand in quite the same relation as before.

Accustomed as Frank was to read her thoughts, he was not deceived
by the expression of regret that she should now see but little of
him, as he saw the news was really pleasant to her. She was not
aware that it was a conversation that he had had the evening before
with Colonel Severn, which had decided him to go down to the Osprey
a fortnight earlier than he had intended.

"You are getting to be almost as regular an attendant here,
Mallett, as I am. I think you are altogether too young to take
regularly to club life. It is all very well for an old fogey like
me, but I don't think it a good thing for a young fellow like you
to take so early to a bachelor life."

"I don't want to do anything of the sort, Colonel. But I can't
stand these crushes in hot rooms; I cannot for the life of me see
where the pleasure comes in. I begin to think that I was an ass to
leave the army."

"Not at all, lad, not at all. When a man has got a good estate it
is much better for him to settle down upon it, and to marry and
have children, and all that sort of thing, than it is to remain in
the army in times of peace. I had Wilson and Hawley dining with me
here yesterday. We had a great chat over the pleasant time we had
last year on board your yacht. I don't know when I enjoyed myself
so much as I did then. Lady Greendale is a remarkably clever woman,
and her daughter is as nice a girl as I have come across for a long
time, and without a scrap of nonsense about her. I wonder that she
has not become engaged by this time. General Matthews, who, as you
know, goes in a good deal for that sort of thing for the sake of
his daughters, told me recently that he fancied from what he had
heard that Miss Greendale's engagement was likely to be a settled
thing before the season was over. He said there were three men
making the running--Lord Chilson, the eldest son of the Earl of
Sommerlay; George Delamore--his father is in the Cabinet, you know,
and he is member for Ponberry; and a man named Carthew, who keeps
race horses, and was a neighbour of hers down in the country. He
is, I hear, a good-looking fellow, and just the sort of man a girl
is likely to fancy. Matthews thought that the chances were in his
favour. As you are a neighbour of theirs, too, I suppose you will
know him?"

"I knew him at one time, Colonel, but I have not seen him now for a
good many years, beyond m