be at all remote," said Lord Lufton,
with a faint smile; "and you may know it as a fact. I did make her an
offer of marriage; I was refused; I am going to repeat it; and I am
now taking you into my confidence, in order that, as her brother, and
as my friend, you may give me such assistance as you can." They then
walked on in silence for some yards, after which Lord Lufton added:
"And now I'll dine with you to-day if you wish it." Mr. Robarts did
not know what to say; he could not bethink himself what answer duty
required of him. He had no right to interfere between his sister and
such a marriage, if she herself should wish it; but still there was
something terrible in the thought of it! He had a vague conception
that it must come to evil; that the project was a dangerous one; and
that it could not finally result happily for any of them. What would
Lady Lufton say? That undoubtedly was the chief source of his dismay.

"Have you spoken to your mother about this?" he said.

"My mother? no; why speak to her till I know my fate? A man does not
like to speak much of such matters if there be a probability of his
being rejected. I tell you because I do not like to make my way into
your house under a false pretence."

"But what would Lady Lufton say?"

"I think it probable that she would be displeased on the first
hearing it; that in four-and-twenty hours she would be reconciled;
and that after a week or so Lucy would be her dearest favourite and
the Prime Minister of all her machinations. You don't know my mother
as well as I do. She would give her head off her shoulders to do me a
pleasure."

"And for that reason," said Mark Robarts, "you ought, if possible, to
do her pleasure."

"I cannot absolutely marry a wife of her choosing, if you mean that,"
said Lord Lufton. They went on walking about the garden for an hour,
but they hardly got any farther than the point to which we have now
brought them. Mark Robarts could not make up his mind on the spur of
the moment; nor, as he said more than once to Lord Lufton, could he
be at all sure that Lucy would in any way be guided by him. It was,
therefore, at last settled between them that Lord Lufton should
come to the parsonage immediately after breakfast on the following
morning. It was agreed also that the dinner had better not come off,
and Robarts promised that he would, if possible, have determined
by the morning as to what advice he would give his sister. He went
direct ho