elf in an unpleasant and undignified
position. Besides, there was the ensuing session of Parliament! No!
Oliver must send out some trustworthy man of business, with full powers.

Louis only answered, that of course it depended entirely on his
father's consent; and by-and-by his submission began to work. Lord
Ormersfield could not refuse him anything, and took care, on parting
for the night, to observe that the point was not settled, only under
consideration.

And consideration was more favourable than might have been expected.
The Earl was growing anxious to see his son married, and of that there
was no hope till his mind should be settled with regard to Mary. It
would be more for his peace to extinguish the hope, if it were never to
be fulfilled. Moreover, the image of Mary had awakened the Earl's own
fatherly fondness for her, and his desire to rescue her from her
wretched home. Even Mr. Ponsonby could hardly withstand Louis in
person, he thought, and must be touched by so many years of constancy.
The rest might be only a misunderstanding which would be cleared up by
a personal interview. Added to this, Lord Ormersfield knew that Clara
would not let her uncle go alone, and did not think it fit to see her
go out alone with an infirm paralytic; James could not leave his wife
or his chaplaincy, and the affair was unsuited to his profession; a
mere accountant would not carry sufficient authority, nor gain
Madison's confidence; in fact, Fitzjocelyn, and no other, was the
trustworthy man of business; and so his lordship allowed when Louis
ventured to recur to the subject the next morning, and urge some of his
arguments.

The bright clearing of Louis's face spoke his thanks, and he began at
once to detail his plans for his father's comfort, Lord Ormersfield
listening as if pleased by his solicitude, though caring for little
until the light of his eyes should return.

'The next point is that you should give me a testimonial that I _am_ a
trustworthy man of business.'

'I will ride into Northwold with you, and talk it over with Oliver.'

Here lay the knotty point; but the last five years had considerably
cultivated Fitzjocelyn's natural aptitude for figures, by his attention
to statistics, his own farming-books, and the complicated accounts of
the Ormersfield estate,--so that both his father and Richardson could
testify to his being an excellent man of business; and his coolness,
and mildness of temper, made him