y rate a man cannot have
his head broken for asking a lady to marry him,--unless he is very
awkward in the doing of it. So Mr. Maule made his little proposition.

"Mr. Maule," said Madame, smiling, "is not this rather sudden?" Mr.
Maule admitted that it was sudden, but still persisted. "I think, if
you please, Mr. Maule, we will say no more about it," said the lady,
with that wicked smile still on her face. Mr. Maule declared that
silence on the subject had become impossible to him. "Then, Mr.
Maule, I shall have to leave you to speak to the chairs and tables,"
said Madame Goesler. No doubt she was used to the thing, and knew how
to conduct herself well. He also had been refused before by ladies of
wealth, but had never been treated with so little consideration. She
had risen from her chair as though about to leave the room, but was
slow in her movement, showing him that she thought it was well for
him to leave it instead of her. Muttering some words, half of apology
and half of self-assertion, he did leave the room; and now she told
the Duchess that she knew something of one of the Maules.

"That is, the father?"

"Yes,--the father."

"He is one of your tribe, I know. We met him at your house just
before the murder. I don't much admire your taste, my dear, because
he's a hundred and fifty years old;--and what there is of him comes
chiefly from the tailor."

"He's as good as any other old man."

"I dare say,--and I hope Mr. Finn will like his society. But he has
got a son."

"So he tells me."

"Who is a charming young man."

"He never told me that, Duchess."

"I dare say not. Men of that sort are always jealous of their sons.
But he has. Now I am going to tell you something and ask you to do
something."

"What was it the French Minister said. If it is simply difficult it
is done. If it is impossible, it shall be done."

"The easiest thing in the world. You saw Plantagenet's first cousin
the other night,--Adelaide Palliser. She is engaged to marry young
Mr. Maule, and they neither of them have a shilling in the world. I
want you to give them five-and-twenty thousand pounds."

"Wouldn't that be peculiar?"

"Not in the least."

"At any rate it would be inconvenient."

"No it wouldn't, my dear. It would be the most convenient thing in
the world. Of course I don't mean out of your pocket. There's the
Duke's legacy."

"It isn't mine, and never will be."

"But Plantagenet says it never can be anybody