ss."

Rufus walked to the window, and looked out. The objections to Mr.
Farnaby appeared to fail, so far, in interesting him.

"To put it plainly," Amelius went on, "there's something about him that
I can't endure. And--though he's very civil to me, in his way--I
don't think he has ever got over the discovery that I am a Christian
Socialist."

Rufus abruptly turned round from the window, and became attentive again.
"So you told him that--did you?" he said.

"Of course!" Amelius rejoined, sharply. "Do you suppose I am ashamed of
the principles in which I have been brought up?"

"You don't care, I reckon, if all the world knows your principles,
persisted Rufus, deliberately leading him on.

"Care?" Amelius reiterated. "I only wish I had all the world to listen
to me. They should hear of my principles, with no bated breath, I
promise you!"

There was a pause. Rufus turned back again to the window. "When
Farnaby's at home, where does he live?" he asked suddenly--still keeping
his face towards the street.

Amelius mentioned the address. "You don't mean that you are going to
call there?" he inquired, with some anxiety.

"Well, I reckoned I might catch him before dinner-time. You seem to be
sort of feared to speak to him yourself. I'm your friend, Amelius--and
I'll speak for you."

The bare idea of the interview struck Amelius with terror. "No, no!" he
said. "I'm much obliged to you, Rufus. But in a matter of this sort, I
shouldn't like to transfer the responsibility to my friend. I'll speak
to Mr. Farnaby in a day or two."

Rufus was evidently not satisfied with this. "I do suppose, now,"
he suggested, "you're not the only man moving in this metropolis
who fancies Miss Regina. Query, my son: if you put off Farnaby much
longer--" He paused and looked at Amelius. "Ah," he said, "I reckon I
needn't enlarge further: there _is_ another man. Well, it's the same
in my country; I don't know what he does, with You: he always turns up,
with Us, just at the time when you least want to see him."

There _was_ another man--an older and a richer man than Amelius; equally
assiduous in his attentions to the aunt and to the niece; submissively
polite to his favoured young rival. He was the sort of person, in age
and in temperament, who would be perfectly capable of advancing his own
interests by means of the hostile influence of Mrs. Farnaby. Who could
say what the result might be if, by some unlucky accident, he made the
attem