when they
get abroad. Now, you 'll oblige me by contradicting, if you ever hear,
this absurd story. I neither did win forty thousand from the Duke
of Stratton, nor shoot him in a duel for non-payment." Both these
derelictions were invented on the moment. "You 'll hear fifty other
similar offences laid to my charge; and I trust to you and the Onslows
for the refutation. In fact, it is the duty of one's own class to defend
'their order.'"

Mrs. Ricketts smiled blandly, and bowed, bowed as though her gauze
turban had been a coronet, and the tinsel finery jewelled strawberry
leaves! To be coupled with the Onslows in the defence of a viscount was
a proud thought. What if it might be made a grand reality?

"Apropos of the Onslows, my Lord," said she, insidiously, "you are very
intimate with them. How is it that we have seen so little of each other?
Are we not congenial spirits?"

"Good Heavens! I thought you were like sisters. There never were people
so made for each other. All your tastes, habits, associations forgive
me, if I say your very, antipathies are alike; for you both are
unforgiving enemies of vulgarity. Depend upon it, there has been some
underhand influence at work. Rely on 't, that evil tongues have kept you
apart." This he said in a whisper, and with a sidelong glance towards
where Haggerstone sat at ecarte with the Pole.

"Do you really think so?" asked she, reddening with anger, as she
followed the direction of his eyes.

"I can hit upon no other solution of the mystery," said he,
thoughtfully; "but know it I will, and must. You know, of course, that
they can't endure him?"

"No, I never heard that."

"It is not mere dislike, it is actual detestation. I have striven to
moderate the feeling. I have said, 'True enough, the man is bad ton,
but you needn't admit him to anything like intimacy. Let him come and go
with the herd you receive at your large parties, and, above all, never
repeat anything after him, for he has always the vulgar version of every
incident in high life.'"

Mrs. Ricketts raised her arched eyebrows and looked astonished; but it
was a feeling in which acquiescence was beautifully blended, and the
Viscount marked it well.

"You must tell me something of this Miss Dalton," said he, drawing his
chair closer; "they affect a kind of mystery about her. Who is she? What
is she?"

"There are various versions of her story abroad," said Mrs. Ricketts,
who now spoke like the Chief Justice