ction, some renown
that should mark him out as different to other men? why was he suddenly
seized with an insatiate desire to be something more than a mere
"mushroom knight, a fungus of nobility"--why? if not to make himself
worthy of--ah! There he had struck a suggestive key-note! Worthy of
what? of whom? There was no one in all the world, excepting perhaps
Lorimer, who cared what became of Sir Philip Errington, Baronet, in the
future, so long as he would, for the present, entertain and feast his
numerous acquaintances and give them all the advantages, social and
political, his wealth could so easily obtain. Then why, in the name of
well-bred indolence, should he muse with such persistent gloom, on his
general unworthiness at this particular moment? Was it because this
Norwegian maiden's grand blue eyes had met his with such beautiful trust
and candor?

He had known many women, queens of society, titled beauties, brilliant
actresses, sirens of the world with all their witcheries in full play,
and he had never lost his self-possession or his heart; with the
loveliest of them he had always felt himself master of the situation,
knowing that, in their opinion he was always "a catch," "an eligible,"
and, therefore, well worth winning. Now, for the first time, he became
aware of his utter insignificance,--this tall, fair goddess knew none of
the social slang--and her fair, pure face, the mirror of a fair, pure
soul, showed that the "eligibility" of a man from a pecuniary point of
view was a consideration that would never present itself to her mind.
What she would look at would be the man himself,--not his pocket. And,
studied from such an exceptional height,--a height seldom climbed by
modern marrying women,--Philip felt himself unworthy. It was a good
sign; there are great hopes of any man who is honestly dissatisfied with
himself. Folding his arms, he leaned idly on the deck-rails, and looked
gravely and musingly down into the motionless water where the varied
lines of the sky were clearly mirrored,--when a slight creaking,
cracking sound was heard, as of some obstacle grazing against or bumping
the side of the yacht. He looked, and saw, to his surprise, a small
rowing boat close under the gunwale, so close indeed that the slow
motion of the tide heaved it every now and then into a jerky collision
with the lower framework of the _Eulalie_--a circumstance which
explained the sound which had attracted his attention. The boat