uch that was superficial only, she
was not herself deep enough to discover. Nor would she have been
deterred from admiring him had she been told that it was tinsel. Such
were the acquirements, such the charms, that she loved. Here was a
young man who dared to speak, and had always something ready to be
spoken; who was not afraid of beauty, nor daunted by superiority of
rank; who, if he had not money, could carry himself on equal terms
among those who had. In this way he won the Duchess's heart, and
having done that, was it odd that he should win the heart of the
daughter also?

His father was a Cornwall squire of comfortable means, having joined
the property of his wife to his own for the period of his own life.
She had possessed land also in Cornwall, supposed to be worth fifteen
hundred a year, and his own paternal estate at Polwenning was said
to be double that value. Being a prudent man, he lived at home as a
country gentleman, and thus was able in his county to hold his head
as high as richer men. But Frank Tregear was only his second son; and
though Frank would hereafter inherit his mother's fortune, he was by
no means now in a position to assume the right of living as an idle
man. Yet he was idle. The elder brother, who was considerably older
than Frank, was an odd man, much addicted to quarrelling with his
family, and who spent his time chiefly in travelling about the world.
Frank's mother, who was not the mother of the heir also, would
sometimes surmise, in Frank's hearing, that the entire property must
ultimately come to him. That other Tregear, who was now supposed to
be investigating the mountains of Crim Tartary, would surely never
marry. And Frank was the favourite also with his father, who paid
his debts at Oxford with not much grumbling; who was proud of his
friendship with a future duke; who did not urge, as he ought to have
urged, that vital question of a profession; and who, when he allowed
his son four hundred pounds a year, was almost content with that
son's protestations that he knew how to live as a poor man among rich
men, without chagrin and without trouble.

Such was the young man who now, in lieu of a profession, had taken
upon himself the responsibility of an engagement with Lady Mary
Palliser. He was tolerably certain that, should he be able to
overcome the parental obstacles which he would no doubt find in his
path, money would be forthcoming sufficient for the purposes of
matrimonial li