end to your comfort--you might have a son of your own to succeed
you, and Darrell Court might yet remain in the hands of the Darrells."

"But, my dear Lady Hampton, where should I find such a wife? I am no
longer young--who would marry me?"

"Any sensible girl in England. Take my advice, Sir Oswald. Let us have a
Lady Darrell, and not an ill-trained girl who will delight in setting
the world at defiance. Indeed, I consider that marriage is a duty which
you owe to society and to your race."

"I have never thought of it. I have always considered myself as having,
so to speak, finished with life."

"You have made a great mistake, but it is one that fortunately can be
remedied."

Lady Hampton rose from her seat, and walked a few steps forward.

"I have put his thoughts in the right groove," she mused; "but I ought
to say a word about Elinor."

She turned to him again.

"You ask me who would marry you. Why, Sir Oswald, in England there are
hundreds of girls, well-bred, elegant, graceful, gentle, like my niece,
who would ask nothing better from fortune than a husband like yourself."

She saw her words take effect. She had turned his thoughts and ideas in
the right direction at last.

"Shall we go and look after our truants?" she asked, suavely.

And they walked together down the path where Pauline had so indignantly
gathered the broken lily. As though unconsciously, Lady Hampton began to
speak of her niece.

"I have adopted Elinor entirely," she said--"indeed there was no other
course for me to pursue. Her mother was my youngest sister; she has
been dead many years. Elinor has been living with her father, but he has
just secured a government appointment abroad, and I asked him to give
his daughter to me."

"It was very kind of you," observed Sir Oswald.

"Nay, the kindness is on her part, not on mine. She is like a sunbeam in
my house. Fair, gentle, a perfect lady, she has not one idea that is not
in itself innately refined and delicate. I knew that if she went into
society at all she would soon marry."

"Is there any probability of that?" asked Sir Oswald.

"No, for by her own desire we shall live very quietly this year. She
wished to see Darrell Court and its owner--we have spoken so much of
you--but with that exception we shall go nowhere."

"I hope she is pleased with Darrell Court," said Sir Oswald.

"How could she fail to be, as well as delighted with its hospitable
master? I could read that much i