t about him as soon as possible.--What are Mr. Lashmar's
means?"

"I really can't tell you," answered Constance, slightly confused by the
unexpected question. "I believe his father is very well-to-do; I have
heard him spoken of as a man of private fortune."

"Then our friend is independent--or at all events not pinched. So much
the better."

Again Lady Ogram fell into musing; the countless wrinkles about her
eyes, eloquent as wrinkles always are, indicated that her thoughts had
no disagreeable tenor.

"Mr. Lashmar impresses you favourably?" Constance at length ventured to
ask.

Lady Ogram delayed her answer for a moment, then, speaking thickly in
her tired voice, and with slow emphasis:

"I'm glad to know him. Beyond a doubt, he is the coming man."

CHAPTER VII

On his return, Lashmar found a letter from Mrs. Woolstan awaiting him
at Upper Woburn Place. The lady wrote in rather an agitated strain; she
had to report that Leonard was already packed off to school, the
imperious Wrybolt having insisted on sending him away as soon as he had
recovered from his cold, on a pretence that the boy ought not to lose
any part of the new term. "It is really very hard on me, don't you
think? I know nothing whatever about the school, which is a long way
off, right away in Devonshire: And it does so grieve me that you
couldn't say good-bye to the poor little fellow. He says he shall write
to you, and it would be so kind, dear Mr. Lashmar, if you could find a
moment to answer him. I know how grateful dear Len would be. But we
will _talk_ about these things, for of course you will come and lunch
all the same, at least I hope you will. Shall we say Thursday? I am not
at all pleased with Mr. Wrybolt's behaviour. Indeed it seems to me very
high-handed, very! And I told him very plainly what I thought. You can
have no idea how galling is a woman's position left at the mercy of a
trustee--a stranger too. And now that I am quite alone in the
house--but I know you don't like people who complain. It's all very
well for _you_, you know. Ah! if I had your independence! What I would
make of my life!--Till Thursday, then, and don't, please, be bored with
my letters."

This Mrs. Woolstan wrote and posted before luncheon. At three o'clock
in the afternoon, just when she was preparing to go out, the servant
made known to her that Mr. Wrybolt had called. What, Mr. Wrybolt again!
With delay which was meant to be impressive, she descend