elt that he was not wanted at Fellside--that he was an excrescence,
matter in the wrong place.

Nobody had presented the stranger to Lady Mary. It never entered into
Maulevrier's mind to be ceremonious about his sister Molly. She was so
much a part of himself that it seemed as if anyone who knew him must
needs know her. Molly sat a little way from the window by which Mr.
Hammond was standing, and looked at him doubtfully, wonderingly, with
not altogether a friendly eye, as he stood with his profile turned to
her, and his eyes upon the landscape. She was inclined to be jealous of
her brother's friend, who would most likely deprive her of much of that
beloved society. Hitherto she had been Maulevrier's chosen companion, at
Fellside--indeed, his sole companion after the dismissal of his tutor.
Now this brown, bearded stranger would usurp her privileges--those two
young men would go roaming over the hills, fishing, otter-hunting, going
to distant wrestling matches and leaving her at home. It was a hard
thing, and she was prepared to detest the interloper. Even to-night she
would be a loser by his presence. Under ordinary circumstances she would
have gone to the dining-room with Maulevrier, and sat by him and waited
upon him as he ate. But she dared not intrude herself upon a meal that
was to be shared with a stranger.

She looked at John Hammond critically, eager to find fault with his
appearence; but unluckily for her present humour there was not much room
for fault-finding.

He was tall, broad-shouldered, well-built. His enemies would hardly deny
that he was good-looking--nay, even handsome. The massive regular
features were irreproachable. He was more sunburnt than a gentleman
ought to be, Mary thought. She told herself that his good looks were of
a vulgar quality, like those of Charles Ford, the champion wrestler,
whom she saw at the sports the other day. Why did Maulevrier pick up a
companion who was evidently not of his own sphere? Hoydenish,
plain-spoken, frank and affectionate as Mary Haselden was, she knew that
she belonged to a race apart, that there were circles beneath circles,
below her own world, circles which hers could never touch, and she
supposed Mr. Hammond to be some waif from one of those nethermost
worlds--a village doctor's son, perhaps, or even a tradesman's--sent to
the University by some benevolent busybody, and placed at a disadvantage
ever afterwards, an unfortunate anomaly, suspended between t