out that fellow Brooks I met at your place down at Enton. Lawyer at
Medchester, isn't he? I thought that he and Sybil seemed a bit thick
somehow. Don't suppose there could have been anything in it, eh? He's
no one in particular, I suppose. Lady Caroom wouldn't be likely to
listen to anything between Sybil and him?"

Arranmore raised his eyebrows.

"Brooks is a very intelligent young man," he said, "and some girls are
attracted by brains, you know. I don't know anything about his
relations with Sybil Caroom, but he has ample private means, and I
believe that he is well-born."

"Fellow's a gentleman, of course," Molyneux declared, "but Lady Caroom
is a little ambitious, isn't she? I always seemed to be in the running
all right lately. I spent last Sunday with them at Chelsom Castle.
Awful long way to go, but I'm fond of Sybil. I thought she was a bit
cool to me, but, like a fool, I blundered on, and in the end--I got a
facer."

"Very sorry for you," Arranmore yawned.

"What made me think about Brooks was that she was awfully decent to me
before Enton," Molyneux continued. "I don't mind telling you that I'm
hard hit. I want to know who Brooks is. If he's only a country lawyer,
he's got no earthly chance with Lady Caroom, and Sybil'd never go
against her mother. They're too great pals for that. Never saw them so
thick."

"Was Lady Caroom--quite well?" Arranmore asked, irrelevantly.

"Well, now you mention it," Molyneux said, "I don't think she was quite
in her usual form. She was much quieter, and it struck me that she was
aging a bit. Wonderful woman, though. She and Sybil were quite
inseparable at Chelsom--more like sisters than anything, 'pon my word."

Lord Arranmore looked into the fire, and was silent for several minutes.

"So far as regards Brooks," he said, "I do not think that he would be an
acceptable son-in-law to Lady Caroom, but I am not in the least sure.
He is by no means an insignificant person. If he were really anxious to
marry Sybil Caroom, he would be a rival worth consideration. I cannot
tell you anything more."

"Much obliged to you I'm sure. I shall try again when they come to
town, of course."

Arranmore rose up.

"I am going down to Christie's to see some old French manuscripts," he
said. "Is that on your way?"

Molyneux shook his head.

"Going down to the House, thanks," he answered. "I'll look you up again
some time, if I may."

They walked out into the street together. Arranmo