ian and a potential Gwen--each with one variation
of parentage, but quite out of court for St. George's, Hanover Square.
Are the Countess's thoughts obscure to you? They were, to her. So she
refused to entertain them.

In the Earl's mind there was an element bred of his short daily visits
to the young man, whose disaster had been a constant source of
self-reproach to him. If only its victim had been repugnant to him, he
would have been greatly helped in the continual verdicts of the Court of
his own conscience, which frequently discharged him without a stain on
his character. How came it, then, that he so soon found himself back in
the dock, or re-arguing the case as counsel for the prisoner? Probably
his sentiments towards the young man himself were responsible for some
of his discontent with his own impartial justice, however emphatically
he rejected the idea. There is nothing like a course of short
attendances at the bedside of a patient to generate an affection for its
occupant, and in this case everything was in its favour. All question of
responsibility for Adrian's accident apart, there was enough in his
personality to get at the Earl's soft corners, especially the one that
constantly reminded its owner that he was now without a son and heir.
For, since his son Frank was drowned, he was the father of daughters
only. It was not surprising that he should enter some protest against
any but a spontaneous cancelling of Gwen's trothplight. It was only fair
that spontaneity should have a chance. He did not much believe that the
cooling down process would be materially assisted by a spell of
separation; but if Philippa would not be content without it, try it, by
all means! If she could persuade her daughter to go with her to Paris,
Rome, Athens--New York, for that matter!--why, go! But the Earl's shrug
as he said this meant that her young ladyship had still to be reckoned
with, and that pig-headed young beauties in love were kittle cattle to
shoe behind. Those were the words his brain toyed with, over the case,
for a moment.

The reckoning bristled with difficulties, and every unit was disputed.
Paris was not fit to be visited, with the present government; and was
not safe, for that matter. Cholera was raging in Rome. Athens was a mass
of ruins from the recent earthquakes. Gwen wavered a moment over New
York, not seriously suggested. It was so absurd as to be worth a
thought. This seems strange to us, nowadays; but it w