a
painter, and allow him to occupy rooms in her palace, unless his
character were altogether above suspicion.

Gloria was, of course, too young to be married yet, though she seemed to
be so entirely grown up and altogether a woman. In this respect
Dalrymple was not prejudiced. His own mother had been married at the age
of seventeen, and he had lived long in Italy, where early marriages were
common enough. There could certainly be no serious objection to the
match on that score, when another year should have passed.

Dalrymple's only anxiety about his daughter concerned her strong
inclination to be a public singer. The prejudice was by no means
extraordinary, and as a Scotchman, it had even more weight with him than
it could have had, for instance, with an Italian. Reanda entirely agreed
with him on this point, and when Gloria spoke of it, he never failed to
draw a lively picture of the drawbacks attending stage life. The artist
spoke very strongly, for one of Gloria's earliest and chiefest
attractions in his eyes had been the certainty he felt that she belonged
to Francesca's class. For that reason her flattering admiration had
brought with it a peculiar savour, especially delightful to the taste of
a man of humble origin. Dalrymple did not understand that, but he knew
that if Gloria married the great painter, the latter would effectually
keep her from the stage.

As for Griggs, the Scotchman was well aware that the poor young
journalist might easily fall in love with the beautiful girl. But this
did not deter him at all from having Griggs constantly at the house.
Griggs was the only man he had ever met who did not bore him, who could
be silent for an hour at a time, who could swallow as much strong wine
as he without the slightest apparent effect upon his manner, who
understood all he said, though sometimes saying things which he could
not understand--in short, Griggs was a necessity to him. The young man
was perhaps aware of the fact, and he found Dalrymple congenial to his
own temper; but he was as excessively proud as he was extremely poor, at
that time, and he managed to refuse the greater part of the hospitality
offered to him, simply because he could not return it. It was very
rarely that he accepted an invitation to a meal, though he now generally
came in the evening, besides meeting Dalrymple almost every morning when
they went to the bookseller's together.

He puzzled the Scotchman strangely. He was an odd