m you can't help, let you struggle
ever so much. This man has had stuff enough in him to win for himself
a very pretty girl with a good fortune and high rank, and yet he is
such a fool that he won't let me put him altogether on his legs when
the opportunity comes!"

Not long after this Roden called at the house in Park Lane, and
asked to see the Marquis. As he passed through the hall he met Mr.
Greenwood coming very slowly down the stairs. The last time he had
met the gentleman had been in that very house when the gentleman
had received him on behalf of the Marquis. The Marquis had not
condescended to see him, but had deputed his chaplain to give him
whatever ignominious answer might be necessary to his audacious
demand for the hand of Lady Frances. On that occasion Mr. Greenwood
had been very imperious. Mr. Greenwood had taken upon himself almost
the manners of the master of the house. Mr. Greenwood had crowed as
though the dunghill had been his own. George Roden even then had not
been abashed, having been able to remember through the interview that
the young lady was on his side; but he had certainly been severely
treated. He had wondered at the moment that such a man as Lord
Kingsbury should confide so much of his family matters to such
a man as Mr. Greenwood. Since then he had heard something of Mr.
Greenwood's latter history from Lady Frances. Lady Frances had joined
with her brother in disliking Mr. Greenwood, and all that Hampstead
had said to her had been passed on to her lover. Since that last
interview the position of the two men had been changed. The chaplain
had been turned out of the establishment, and George Roden had been
almost accepted into it as a son-in-law. As they met on the foot of
the staircase, it was necessary that there should be some greeting.
The Post Office clerk bowed very graciously, but Mr. Greenwood barely
acknowledged the salutation. "There," said he to himself, as he
passed on, "that's the young man that's done all the mischief. It's
because such as he are allowed to make their way in among noblemen
and gentlemen that England is going to the dogs." Nevertheless, when
Mr. Greenwood had first consented to be an inmate of the present
Lord Kingsbury's house, Lord Kingsbury had, in spite of his Order,
entertained very liberal views.

The Marquis was not in a good humour when Roden was shown into his
room. He had been troubled by his late chaplain, and he was not able
to bear such trouble