hat Mr. Hammond without a penny in his pocket, and
with his way to make in the world, would be very glad to secure Lady
Mary Haselden and her five hundred a year, and to have Lord Maulevrier
for his brother in-law?'

'Have I really five hundred a year? Shall I have five hundred a year
when I marry?' asked Mary, suddenly radiant.

'Yes; if you marry with your brother's consent.'

'I am so glad--for his sake. He could hardly starve if I had five
hundred a year. He need not be obliged to emigrate.'

'Has he been offering you the prospect of emigration as an additional
inducement?'

'Oh, no, he does not say that he is very poor, but since you say he is
penniless I thought we might be obliged to emigrate. But as I have five
hundred a year--'

'You will stay at home, and set up a lodging-house, I suppose,' sneered
Lady Maulevrier.

'I will do anything my husband pleases. We can live in a humble way in
some quiet part of London, while Mr. Hammond works at literature or
politics. I am not afraid of poverty or trouble, I am willing to endure
both for his sake.'

'You are a fool!' said her grandmother sternly. 'And I have nothing more
to say to you. Go away, and send Maulevrier to me.'

Mary did not obey immediately. She went over to her grandmother's couch
and knelt by her side, and kissed the poor maimed hand which lay on the
velvet cushion.

'Dear grandmother,' she said gently. 'I am very sorry to rebel against
you. But this is a question of life or death with me. I am not like
Lesbia. I cannot barter love and truth for worldly advantage--for pride
of race. Do not think me so weak or so vain as to be won by a few fine
speeches from an adventurer. Mr. Hammond is no adventurer, he has made
no fine speeches--but, I will tell you a secret, grandmother. I have
liked and admired him from the first time he came here. I have looked up
to him and reverenced him; and I must be a very foolish girl if my
judgment is so poor that I can respect a worthless man.'

'You _are_ a very foolish girl,' answered Lady Maulevrier, more kindly
than she had spoken before, 'but you have been very good and dutiful to
me since I have been ill, and I don't wish to forget that. I never said
that Mr. Hammond was worthless; but I say that he is no fit husband for
you. If you were as yielding and obedient as Lesbia it would be all the
better for you; for then I should provide for your establishment in life
in a becoming manner. But as you are wil