receive
the mother."

"That is another of what Sir Philip Ashley would call
class-distinctions, is it not?" said Margaret, placidly. "The sort of
thing which made Miss Polehampton so anxious to separate me from poor
Janetta."

"Class-distinctions are generally founded on some inherent law of
character or education, dear," said Lady Caroline, softly. "They are not
so arbitrary as young people imagine. I hope the day will never come
when the distinction of class will be done away with. I"--piously--"hope
that I may be in my grave before that day comes."

"Oh, of course they are very necessary," said Margaret, comfortably.
"And, if old Mrs. Brand were to go away, I suppose her sons would be
received everywhere?"

"Oh, I suppose so. The property is fairly good, is it not, Reginald?"

"Not very," said Mr. Adair. "The father squandered a good deal, and I
fancy the present owner is economizing for the sake of his boy."

"His boy?" A faint color stole into Margaret's cheeks. "Is he married,
papa?"

"Oh, the wife's dead," said Mr. Adair, hastily. It was part of Lady
Caroline's system that Margaret should not hear more than was absolutely
necessary of what she termed "disagreeable" subjects. Elopements,
separation and divorce cases all came under that head. So that when Mr.
Adair, who knew more of Mr. Brand's domestic history than he chose to
say, added immediately--"At least I heard so: I believe so," he did not
think that he was actually departing from fact, but only that he was
coloring the matter suitably for Margaret's infant understanding. He
really believed that Mrs. Wyvis Brand was divorced from her husband, and
it was "the same thing as being dead, you know," he would have replied
if interrogated on the subject.

Margaret did not respond, and Lady Caroline never once suspected that
she had any real interest in the matter. But the very fact that Wyvis
Brand was represented to her as a widower threw a halo of romance around
his head in Margaret's eyes. A man who has "loved and lost" is often
invested with a peculiar kind of sanctity in the eyes of a young girl.
Wyvis Brand's handsome face and evident admiration of herself did not
prepossess Margaret in his favor half so much as the fact that he had
known loss and sorrow, and was temporarily ostracized by County society
because his mother was "an impossible person." This last deprivation
appealed to Margaret's imagination more than the first. It seemed to her
a