spect. How he managed to steer
clear of the many snares and pitfalls laid for him in the course of his
career puzzled a good many men. But he did it, and what was more
remarkable still, he made no enemies. He had friendships among the other
sex such as no man save he dared have indulged in to a like extent; but
with infinite skill he always seemed to be able to drop some delicate
insinuation as to the utter absence of any matrimonial intention on his
part, which left no room for doubt or hope. He was, in short, possessed
of admirable powers of diplomacy which never failed him.

Of course his impregnability gave rise to all manner of stories. He had
been jilted in his youth, he had a wife alive, or he had had one, and
she was dead, none of which rumors met any large amount of credence. As
to the first, the idea of anyone jilting Sir Allan Beaumerville, even
before his coming into the baronetcy, found no favor in the feminine
world. No woman could have shown such ill judgment as that; and,
besides, he had very little of the melancholy which is generally
supposed to attend upon such a disappointment. As to the second, it was
never seriously entertained, for if any woman had once claimed Sir Allan
Beaumerville as a husband, she was scarcely likely to keep away from
him, especially now that he was occupying such a distinguished position.
The third was quite out of the question, for even had he ever been
married--which nobody believed--he was scarcely the sort of man to wear
the willow all his life, and, indeed, it was very evident that he was
not doing anything of the sort. Everyone knew of a certain little
establishment beyond Kensington way, where Sir Allan's brougham was
often seen, but of course no one thought the worse of him for that. And
without a doubt, if Sir Allan had yielded to that gentle wish so often
expressed, and commenced domestic life in a more conventional manner in
the great house at Grosvenor Square, he would have forfeited at once a
great deal of his popularity, at any rate among the feminine part of his
acquaintance. As it was, there was always a faint hope of winning him to
add a zest to his delightful companionship, and Sir Allan, who was a
very shrewd man, was perfectly aware of this. He was a sybarite of
refined taste, with an exquisite appreciation of the finer and more
artistic pleasures of life; and the society of educated and well-bred
women was one of the chief of them. Rather than run any risk