ed his
uncle's eye fixed upon him with the last expression he could have
anticipated seeing there, namely that of actual and unmistakable alarm.

"You are displeased," Mandeville exclaimed. "You have thought me proof
against such a passion, or perhaps you do not believe in the passion
itself!" Then with a sudden remembrance of the notable if somewhat
indolent loveliness of his uncle's wife, blushed again at his unusual
want of tact, while his eye with an involuntary impulse sought the large
panel at their right where, in the full bloom of her first youth, the
lady of the house smiled upon all beholders.

"I do not believe in that passion influencing a man's career," his uncle
replied with no apparent attention to the other's embarrassment. "A
woman needs be possessed of uncommon excellences to justify a man in
leaving a path where success is certain, for one where it is not only
doubtful but if attained must bring many a regret and heart-ache in its
train. Beauty is not sufficient," he went on with sterner and sterner
significance, "though it were of an angelic order. There must be worth."
And here his mind's eye if not that of his bodily sense, certainly
followed the glance of his companion.

"I believe there is worth," the young man replied; "certainly, it is not
her beauty that charms me. I do not even know if she _is_ beautiful," he
continued.

"And you believe you love!" the elder exclaimed after another short
pause.

There was so much of bitterness in the tone in which this was uttered,
that Mandeville forgot its incredulity. "I think I must," returned he
with a certain masculine naivete not out of keeping with his general
style of face and manner, "else I should not be here. Three weeks ago I
was satisfied with my profession, if not enthusiastic over it; to-day I
ask nothing but to be allowed to enter upon some business that in three
years' time at least will place me where I can be the fit mate of any
woman in this land, that is not worth her millions."

"The woman for whom you have conceived this violent attachment is, then,
above you in social position?"

"Yes, sir, or so considered, which amounts to the same thing, as far as
I am concerned."

"Bertram, I have lived longer than you and have seen much of both social
and domestic life, and I tell you no woman is worth such a sacrifice on
the part of a man as you propose. No woman of to-day, I should say; our
mothers were different. The very fact that