to know that they were there.

It was natural, then, that Ashley's eyes should be turning in the
direction of the great appointments. He had won so much distinction in
the Jakh War and the Dargal War that there was nothing to which, with
time, he could not aspire. True, he had rivals; true, there were men who
could supplant him without putting any great strain upon their powers;
true, there were others with more family influence, especially of that
petticoat influence which had been known to carry so much weight in high
and authoritative quarters; but he had confidence in himself, in his
ability, his star--the last named of which had the merit of always
seeming to move forward.

Everything began to point, therefore, to his marrying. In a measure it
was part of his qualification for high command. He had reached that
stage in his development, both private and professional, at which the
co-operation of a good and graceful wife would double his capacity for
public service, besides giving him that domestic consolation of which
he began to feel the need. There were posts he could think of--posts
that would naturally be vacant before many years were past--in which the
fact of his being unmarried would be a serious drawback if his name were
to come up. Better to be unmarried than to be saddled with a wife who
from any deficiency of birth or manner was below the level of her
station! Of course! He had seen more than one man, splendidly qualified
otherwise, passed over because of that mischance. But with a wife who in
her way was equal to him in his they would both go far. Who could
venture to say how far?

In this respect he was fortunate in knowing exactly what he wanted. That
is, he had seen enough of the duties of high position to be critical of
the ladies who performed them. Experience enabled him to create his
ideal by a process of elimination. Many a time, as he watched some great
general's wife--Lady Englemere, let us say, or Lady Bannockburn--receive
her guests, he said to himself, "That is exactly what my wife shall not
be." She should not be a military intrigante like the one, nor a female
martinet like the other, nor a gambler like a third, nor a snob like a
fourth, nor a fool about young men like several he could think of. By
dint of fastidious observation and careful rejection of the qualities of
which he disapproved, a vision rose before him of the woman who would be
the complement of himself. He saw her clever,