brake I am not strong enough to work," said Rendel;
"like Archimedes, I have not a lever powerful enough to move the
universe."

"H'm!" said Sir William, with a sort of snort. There are fortunately
still some sounds left in our vocabulary which convey primeval emotions
without the limitations of words. "Come, Rachel, it is time for us to be
going."

* * * * *

Mrs. Feversham's watchful eye had managed to observe what appeared to
be the sufficiently satisfactory sequel to the introduction she had
made. She was not a woman to let such a seed die for want of planting
and watering. She asked Rendel to dinner to meet the Gores, she talked
to Lady Gore about him, she it was who somehow arranged that he should
go to call at Prince's Gate, and he finally grew into a habit of finding
his way there with a frequency that surprised himself. Lady Gore
subjugated him entirely by her sweet kindly welcome, and the interest
with which she listened to him, until he found himself to his own
astonishment telling her, as he sat by her sofa, of his hopes and fears
and plans for the future.

Gradually new possibilities seemed to come into his life, or rather the
old possibilities were seen in a new light shed by the womanly sympathy
which up to now he had never known. He came away from each visit with
some fresh spurt of purpose, some new impulse to achievement. Lady Gore,
on her side, had been more favourably impressed by Rendel than by any of
the young men she had seen, until she realised that here at last was a
possible husband who might be worthy of Rachel. But with her customary
wisdom she tried not to formulate it even to herself: she did not
believe in these things being helped on otherwise than by opportunity
for intercourse being given. But where Mrs. Feversham was, opportunity
was sure to follow. Lady Gore one morning had an eager letter from her
friend saying, "I know that you and Rachel make it a rule of life that
she can never go away from home. But you must let her come to me next
Thursday for the night. I shall have"--and she underlined this
significantly without going into more details--"_just the right people
to meet her_." And for once, as Lady Gore folded up the letter, she too
was seized with an ardour of matchmaking. She had a real affection for
Rendel, and the devotion of the young man to herself touched and pleased
her. His probably brilliant future and comfortable means were not the