Phantom Fortune

. Hammond's frank avowal of his insignificance. At the very beginning of her career, with the world wai

r society altogether as it were, and began to explore her basket of crewels, at a distant table, by the soft light of a shaded lamp, while

t the valley, telling of village life. The Prince of Wales's hotel yonder sparkled with its many lights, like a castle in a fairy tale. The stranger had looked upon many a grander scene, but on none more lovely. H

or six weeks with you, if you can m

ed her ladyship. 'Your usual habits are as restless as if your life were a diseas

ive man, touchily conscious of his own obscurity, he must have felt that he was

d to her, and his eyes upon the landscape. She was inclined to be jealous of her brother's friend, who would most likely deprive her of much of that beloved society. Hitherto she had been Maulevrier's chosen companion, at Fellside - indeed, his sole companion after the dismissal of his tutor. Now this brown, bearded stranger would usurp her privileges - those two young men would go roaming over the hills, fish

fault with his appearence; but unluckily for her pres

ampion wrestler, whom she saw at the sports the other day. Why did Maulevrier pick up a companion who was evidently not of his own sphere? Hoydenish, plain-spoken, frank and affectionate as Mary Haselden was, she knew that she belonged to a race apart, that there were circles beneath circles, below her own world, circles which her

d that his lordship

ier; 'come and tell me about the

d then slipped out of the room, hanging fondly on her brother's arm, and al

d herself strongly upon Maulevrier's folly in b

s he to live with us, and be one of us, a person of whose belongin

friend, and we have the right

e make a friend, or almost a friend of Jack Howell, the huntsman, and of

ied her ladyship, placidly; 'and in the meantime we must tolerate him, and be gratef

rst season, the great houses in which she was going to reign. Lesbia despised him for that neglect of all his opportunities of culture which had left him, after the most orthodox and costly curriculum, almost as ignorant as a ploughboy. She despised a man whose only delight was in horse and hound, gun

keen evening air. When the sharp edge of the appetite was blunted, Maulevrier began to talk of his adventures since he and Molly had last met. He had not being dissipating in London all the time - or, indeed, any great part of the time of his absence from Fellside; but Molly had been left in Cimmerian, darkness as to his

ight as well be a clerk in an office,

old her that things had gone badly with him at Epsom, and worse at Ascot, that he had been, as he expressed it, 'up a tree,' and that he had gone off to the Black Forest directly the Ascot week was over, and at Rippoldsau he had met his old friend and fellow traveller, Hammond, and they had gone for a walking tour together

world where a horse was an excep

Faust by heart, albeit she had never been given permission to read it, 'the gnomes and

as our valet de place, and we went up among a compan

B?ume hint

hnell vorü

ppen, die s

angen Fel

archen, wie

her's side, and never took her eyes from his face, ready to pour out his wine or to change h

iously as Lesbia might have done. She was not

' she inquired, with

. 'Hammond is an admirable Crichton, my dear - by-the-by, who was admirable Cricht

Very proper in a man who was educated on charit

Maulevrier bemoaned and lamented until this day. Because her brother had not been virtuous, Mary grudged virtuous young men their triumphs and their honours. Great, raw-boned fellows, who have taken their degrees at Scotch Universities, come to Oxford and Cambridge and sweep the board, Maulevrier had told her, when his own failure

ler, and send him to a Scotch University, I daresay he would turn out just as

. It was half-past ten by this time, and, of course, Mary did not go

p early to show me the dogs,' said Ma

ond, holding out his hand, albeit she

ad not risen to giving a couple of fingers to a person whom she considered her in

auty sister?' asked his lordship, as he

any player had entered the room. Everything which concerned Maulevrier's comfort or pleasure was done as i

nold's portraits, as that Lady Diana Beauclerk of Colonel Aldridge's, or

my lady Di - too little of poor Kitty. But still, of course, it always pleases a fellow to know that his people are admired; and I

that her ladyship should expect such a lovely creature to make a great match. Is there no on

he houses about here, she has seen nothing of the world. My grandmother has kept Lesbia as close as a nun. She is not so fond of

t Maulevrier had not yet grown out of the ideas belonging to that period when Mary

her sister's pure and classical beauty, he had no eyes for Mary's homelier charms. She seemed

ke me,' he said, after his shot,

ill she was tired, and now Mary runs wild, and I suppose will be left at grass till six months before her pre

d the distance was wide between the two men; but his lordship's gaiety, good-nature, and acuteness made amends for all shortcomings in culture. And the