. "And them lords as is dead and
buried did waste the money, there's no denying. But some of your
cousins, Master Noel, have gone into trade and made money, more shame to
them."

"I don't see that, Mrs. Tribb. I'd go into trade myself if I had any
head for figures. There's no disgrace in trade."

"Not for them as isn't Lamberts, Master Noel, and far be it from me to
say so, gentry not being so rich as they used to be when my mother was a
gal. I don't hold with it though for you, sir. But now Lady Agnes having
millions and billions will make things easier for you."

"Certainly not, Mrs. Tribb. How could I take money from her?"

"And why not, Master Noel? if you'll excuse my making so free. As a
child she'd give you anything in the way of toys, and as a grown-up, her
head is yours if not her heart, as is--"

"There! there! Don't talk any more," said Lambert, coloring and vexed.

"I haven't annoyed you, sir, I hope. It's my heart as speaks."

"I appreciate the interest you take in the family, Mrs. Tribb, but you
had better leave some things unsaid. Now, go and prepare tea, as Lady
Agnes has written saying she will be here this afternoon."

"Oh, Master Noel, and you only tell me now. Then there ain't time to
cook them cakes she dotes on."

But Lambert declined to argue further, and Mrs. Tribb withdrew,
murmuring that she would have to make shift with sardine sandwiches. Her
tongue was assuredly something of a nuisance, but the young man knew how
devoted she was to the family, and, since she had looked after him when
he was a child, he sanctioned in her a freedom he would not have
permitted any one else to indulge in. And it is to be feared, that the
little woman in her zeal sometimes abused her privileges.

The sitting room was small and cramped, and atrociously furnished in an
overcrowded way. There were patterns on the wall-paper, on the carpet,
on the tablecloth and curtains, until the eye ached for a clean surface
without a design. And there were so many ill-matched colors, misused for
decorative purposes, that Lambert shuddered to the core of his artistic
soul when he beheld them. To neutralize the glaring tints, he pulled
down the blinds of the two windows which looked on to a dull suburban
roadway, and thus shut out the weak sunshine. Then he threw himself into
an uncomfortable arm-chair and sought solace in his briar root. The
future was dark, the present was disagreeable, and the past would not
bear thin