In her way she liked Guss Mildmay; but Guss was not good enough
to marry her cousin. Guss herself must know that such a marriage was
impossible. She had on an occasion said a word or two to Guss upon the
subject. She had thought that a little flirtation between Jack and her
other friend Lady George might put things right; and she had thought,
too,--or perhaps felt rather than thought,--that Lord George had
emancipated himself from the thraldom of his late love rather too
quickly. Mary was a dear girl. She was quite prepared to make Mary her
friend, being in truth somewhat sick of the ill-humours and
disappointments of Guss Mildmay; but it might be as well that Mary
should be a little checked in her triumph. She herself had been obliged
to put up with old Mr. Houghton. She never for a moment told herself
that she had done wrong; but of course she required compensation. When
she was manoeuvring she never lost sight of her manoeuvres. She had had
all this in her mind when she made up her little dinner-party. She had
had it all in her mind when she arranged the seats. She didn't want to
sit next to Jack herself, because Jack would have talked to her to the
exclusion of Lord George, so she placed herself between Lord George and
Mr. Mildmay. It had been necessary that Mr. Mildmay should take Miss
Houghton down to dinner, and therefore she could not separate Guss
from Jack De Baron. Anybody who understands dinner-parties will see it
all at a glance. But she was convinced that Jack would devote himself
to Lady George at his left hand; and so he did.

"Just come up to town, haven't you?" said Jack.

"Only last week."

"This is the nicest time in the year for London, unless you do a deal
of hunting; then it's a grind."

"I never hunt at all; Lord George won't let me."

"I wish some one wouldn't let me. It would save me a deal of money, and
a great deal of misery. It's all a delusion and a snare. You never get
a run nowadays."

"Do you think so? I'd rather hunt than do anything."

"That's because you are not let to do it; the perversity of human
nature, you know! The only thing I'm not allowed to do is to marry, and
it's the only thing I care for."

"Who prevents it, Captain de Baron?"

"There's a new order come out from the Horse Guards yesterday. No one
under a field officer is to marry unless he has got L2,000 a year."

"Marrying is cheaper than hunting."

"Of course, Lady George, you may buy your horses cheap or d