egin to fear that you are very reckless. A
spendthrift shall never marry my granddaughter, with my consent.'

'I have never yet spent above half my income.'

Lady Maulevrier looked at him in wonderment and perplexity. Had the
young man gone suddenly out of his mind, overwhelmed by the greatness of
his bliss?

'But I thought you were poor,' she faltered.

'It has pleased you to think so, dear Lady Maulevrier; but I have more
than enough for all my wants, and I shall be able to provide a fitting
home for my Mary, when you can spare her to preside over her own
establishment.'

'Establishment' seemed rather a big word, but Lady Maulevrier supposed
that in this case it meant a cook and housemaid, with perhaps later on a
boy in buttons, to break windows and block the pantry sink with missing
teaspoons.

'Well, Mr. Hammond, this is quite an agreeable surprise,' she said,
after a brief silence. 'I really thought you were poor--as poor as a
young man of gentlemanlike habits could be, and yet exist. Perhaps you
will wonder why, thinking this, I brought myself to consent to your
marriage with my granddaughter.'

'It was a great proof of your confidence in me, or in Providence,'
replied Hammond, smiling.

'It was no such thing. I was governed by a sentiment--a memory. It was
my love for the dead which softened my heart towards you, John Hammond.'

'Indeed!' he murmured, softly.

'There was but one man in this world I ever fondly loved--the love of my
youth--my dearest and best, in the days when my heart was fresh and
innocent and unambitious. That man was Ronald Hollister, afterwards Lord
Hartfield. And yours is the only face that ever recalled his to my mind.
It is but a vague likeness--a look now and then; but slight as that
likeness is it has been enough to make my heart yearn towards you, as
the heart of a mother to her son.'

John Hammond knelt beside the sofa, and bent his handsome face over the
pale face on the pillow, imprinting such a kiss as a son might have
given. His eyes were full of tears.

'Dear Lady Maulevrier, think that it is the spirit of the dead which
blesses you for your fidelity to old memories,' he said, tenderly.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

BY SPECIAL LICENCE.

After that interview with John Hammond all the arrangements for the
marriage were planned by Lady Maulevrier with a calm and business-like
capacity which seemed extraordinary in one so frail and helpless. For a
little while after Ha