,
so I thought it better to defer a more formal call. Miss Farrell was
kind enough to leave my card, but I did not wish to put myself too much
_en evidence_!"

Mr Farrell frowned.

"You had better go soon, then--the sooner the better. As you know the
niece, there is all the more reason for paying due respect to the uncle
and aunt. You will no doubt receive an invitation after this exchange
of visits, and it must be returned as soon as possible. I knew the
girl's father in his youth. He was a fine fellow. If she is like him,
she must be worth knowing. She cannot be very young,--nearer thirty
than twenty, I should say. It is a wonder that she is not married, or
engaged. Is she engaged, do you happen to know?"

Again the others waited, leaving Victor to reply, and for the first time
a faint flush showed itself on his cheek.

"I believe not. There was no talk of it last autumn. I have heard no
rumours--"

"I am surprised at that. It is a poor family, and she will have little
or no money; but the name and position ought to count for something.
They would be almost more valuable than money to a young man beginning
life."

"I am thankful that I have no name or position! I should like my
husband to value me for myself, not for what I possessed!" cried Mollie
quickly.

It gave her an uncomfortable feeling, amounting almost to an augury of
ill, to hear Uncle Bernard talking of Margot Blount with such unusual
interest. The first definite wish which he had expressed was in
connection with her name; his last remarks virtually sanctioned with his
approval any aspirations which Victor might secretly treasure. Lady
Margot Blount could hardly be expected to marry a struggling barrister;
but if that barrister were the possible heir of the Court, his
importance became at once largely increased.

Victor was unfailing in his efforts to please his host, and the result
of this conversation would inevitably be a closer intimacy with the
Blount family, which, even if it led to nothing more serious, would of a
certainty cloud Ruth's happiness. Mollie was by no means sure that she
approved of Victor as a suitor for her beloved sister, but, with
delightful inconsistency, she hated the idea of his daring to care for
anyone else, and the thought lent an unwonted edge to her voice--

"It's horrid to talk about marriage in that mercenary fashion, as if it
were a pure business arrangement. When I hear such remarks, I'm
tha