e note of
hesitation in Thorpe's tone. He strove anxiously to get together
considerations which should tip the fluttering balance definitely his
way.

"Well," he began slowly, "I hardly know how to put it. Of course there
was, in the first place, the immense expectation of fortune which you
gave me, and which I'm afraid I've more than lived up to. And then, of
course, others shared my expectations. It wasn't a thing one could
very well keep to oneself. My mother and my sister--especially my
sister--they were wonderfully excited about it. You are quite the hero
in their eyes. And then--you remember that talk we had, in which you
said I could help you--socially, you know. I did it a little, just as a
start, but of course there's no end to what could be done. You've been
too busy heretofore, but we can begin now whenever you like. I don't
mind telling you--I've had some thoughts of a possible marriage for you.
In point of blood and connections it would be such a match as a commoner
hasn't made before in my memory--a highly-cultivated and highly-bred
young lady of rank--and settlements could be made so that a considerable
quantity of land would eventually come to your son. I needn't tell you
that land stands for much more than money, if you happen to set your
mind on a baronetcy or a peerage. Of course--I need scarcely say--I
mention this marriage only as something which may or may not attract
you,--it is quite open to you to prefer another,--but there is hardly
anything of that sort in which I and my connections could not be of use
to you."

Even more by the tone and inflection of these words than by the phrases
themselves, Thorpe divined that he was being offered the hand of the
Hon. Winifred Plowden in marriage. He recalled vividly the fact that
once the shadow of some such thought had floated through his own
brain; there had been a moment--it seemed curiously remote, like a
dream-phantom from some previous state of existence--when he had dwelt
with personal interest upon her inheritance from long lines of noblemen,
and her relation to half the peerage. Then, swiftly, illogically, he
disliked the brother of this lady more than ever.

"All that is talking in the air," he said, with abrupt decision. "I
see nothing in it. You shall have your vendor's shares, precisely as I
promised you. I don't see how you can possibly ask for anything more."
He looked at the other's darkling face for a moment, and then rose with
unwiel