king in the next room; and I don't mean to let you make
a fool of the girl. She is not in your line of life, and the sooner you
know it the better. You make me laugh when you ask if she is related to
gentlefolks. She is the orphan daughter of a chemist in the country. Her
relations haven't a penny to bless themselves with, except an old aunt,
who lives in a village on two or three hundred a year. I heard of the
girl by accident. When she lost her father and mother, her aunt offered
to take her. Isabel said, 'No, thank you; I will not be a burden on
a relation who has only enough for herself. A girl can earn an honest
living if she tries; and I mean to try'--that's what she said. I admired
her independence," her Ladyship proceeded, ascending again to the higher
regions of thought and expression. "My niece's marriage, just at that
time, had left me alone in this great house. I proposed to Isabel to
come to me as companion and reader for a few weeks, and to decide for
herself whether she liked the life or not. We have never been separated
since that time. I could hardly be fonder of her if she were my own
daughter; and she returns my affection with all her heart. She has
excellent qualities--prudent, cheerful, sweet-tempered; with good sense
enough to understand what her place is in the world, as distinguished
from her place in my regard. I have taken care, for her own sake, never
to leave that part of the question in any doubt. It would be cruel
kindness to deceive her as to her future position when she marries. I
shall take good care that the man who pays his addresses to her is a man
in her rank of life. I know but too well, in the case of one of my own
relatives, what miseries unequal marriages bring with them. Excuse me
for troubling you at this length on domestic matters. I am very fond
of Isabel; and a girl's head is so easily turned. Now you know what her
position really is, you will also know what limits there must be to the
expression of your interest in her. I am sure we understand each other;
and I say no more."

Hardyman listened to this long harangue with the immovable gravity which
was part of his character--except when Isabel had taken him by surprise.
When her Ladyship gave him the opportunity of speaking on his side,
he had very little to say, and that little did not suggest that he had
greatly profited by what he had heard. His mind had been full of Isabel
when Lady Lydiard began, and it remained just as