own
at present.'

'But a little economy and that sort of thing would soon clear the
property. You had better settle down.'

'I don't think I should like it; besides, I hear there are negotiations
going on between my attorneys and some other persons for a fresh
tenant.'

The luncheon-bell rang, and the party went into the dining-room; and
whilst they are eating and talking we will examine the new comer.

He is decidedly a handsome man. The most fastidious judge of masculine
beauty could scarcely deny this fact. Tall, well made, of commanding
figure and aristocratic appearance, black hair, a high rather than a
broad forehead, well marked eyebrows, and black lashes so long that they
half conceal the grey eyes beneath; an aquiline nose, and a well-defined
mouth, with an expression slightly sarcastic; a chin so deeply indented
with a dimple that, if the old saw be true, he must be a flirt or a
deceiver; and withal, a manner so perfectly easy and self-possessed that
you say at once court, camp, or cottage must be equally accessible to
that man.

There is a certain power in him that even a reader of character would
scarcely understand for some time. Is it intellect? There is decidedly
intelligence in the face, yet it is not highly intellectual; there are
no disfiguring lines and cross lines, the furrows of study or thought.
Is it mere health and animal spirits? He is neither particularly rosy
nor overpoweringly cheerful. Does he read your mind at a glance? His
eyes are penetrating, but not uncomfortably so. It is, we are inclined
to think, that general and instinctive knowledge of the characters and
tendencies of those with whom he converses, which commerce with the
world, and a keen observation of men and manners, alone can give. He is,
in short, a man of the world.

When he first entered the army his father and an elder brother were
alive. They, dying about three years after, left him in possession of a
large but greatly encumbered property. It was estimated that it would
take twenty years at least to clear the estate, and that only by letting
it and never drawing upon the proceeds.

The young heir was wise enough to retain his post as officer in Her
Majesty's service, though not to sequester all his income for the
payment of his father's, grandfather's, and great-grandfather's debts or
mortgages. He spent about a fourth of it annually, and consequently the
property was still greatly encumbered and he knew that to r