The Market-Place

ome region populated exclusively by clean-shaven men in brown livery. One of these was holding a spirited horse outside the station, and when Lord Plowden had taken the reins, and

He kept up a continual murmuring monologue to the animal-"So-so-quiet, my pet,-so-so-easy, my beauty--so-so"-and his wrists and gloved hands were visibly under a tremendous tension of strain, as they held their own against the rigid arched neck and mouth of steel. Thorpe kept a grip on the side of the trap, and had only a

tely, and then, coming out all at once upon an open space, swung smartly round the crescent of a gravel road, and halted before what seemed to be the door of a greenhouse. Thorpe, as he stood up in the trap, got an uncertain, general idea of a low, pa

with rugs, was on a level with the path outside. There were low easy-chairs here, and a little wicker table bearing books and a lady's work-basket. Further on, giant chrysanthemum blooms were massed beneath the clusters of pale p

multiply themselves in the darkness. All at once there were a number of young men-at the horse's head, at the back and sides of the trap, at the first doorway, and

e did it in a bit over eight minutes," he remarked, with obvious satisfaction. "

hips, spurs, and some stands of archaic weapons caught the eye at various points; the heads of foxes and deer peeped out on the blackened panels of the walls, from among clusters of hooks crowded with coats, hats, and mackintoshes. At the right, where a fire glowed and blazed under a huge open chimney-place, there were low chairs and divans drawn up to mark off a space for orderly domestic occupation. The irregularity of every thing outside-the great

d with the ceaseless responsibility of being astonished at nothing. A man took his hat,

second domestic, "he will look after you. You would like to g

d with pleasure at the sight of it. The prettiest and most charming of rooms it seemed to him to be-spacious and quaintly rambling in shape, with a delicately-figured chintz repeating the dainty effects of the walls upon the curtains and carpet and bed-hangings and chair-covers, and with a brig

ismay at the discovery that he intended to unpack them as well. Pangbourn began gravely to unwrap one paper parcel after another and to assort their contents in litt

he did not utter these words. After circling idly, hands in pockets, about the man and

g them today-and I don't know what he mayn't have forgotten. My whole outfit of that sort of thing went a

rn, without emotion. "Th

ation in the clock-like assiduity of his movements, as he bestowed handkerchiefs, in one drawer, socks in another, hung pyjamas before the fire, and set the patent-leather pumps against the fender. Even the old Mexican shooting-suit seemed in no way to disconcer

his mind. Conceivably he might even get this identical Pangbourn-treasure though he were. Money could command everything on this broad globe-and why not Pangbourn? He tentatively felt of the

n. His soft, distinct enunciation conveye

g himself for the moment

rther, sir?" the man reframe

d Thorpe. "No-I'll

of the thick, bevelled swinging mirror presented a somewhat embarrassing contrast to the electr

ring whether he ought to go downstairs or wait for someone to summon him, when he heard a knock at his door. Before he could answer, the door opened, and he made out

chalantly. "Have a cigarette before we go down? Light it

went down"-he went on, as Thorpe, with an elbow on the mantel, looked down at his handsome head-"my sister has a couple of ladies visiting her. One of the

He could not wholly divest his tone of the hint that in those days it by no

of money, you know-at least a million and a half-dollars, unfortunately. Her parents were Irish-her father made his pile in the waggon business, I believe-but she's as American as if they'd crossed over in-w

in silence. This insistence upon the un-English nature of t

cking bounder-he would have been Duke of Glastonbury, though, if he had lived-but he was drowned, and she was left poor as a church mouse. Oh! by the way!" he started up, with a gleam

s. "Why, you introduced me to him you

But what I was saying-there's no one else but my mother and sister, and my brother Balder. He's a youngster-twenty or thereabouts-and he purports to be reading for his exams for the Army. If they opened his head, though, I doubt if they'd find anything but cricket and football, unless it might be a bit of golf. Well-that's the party. I thought you might like to have a n

s for the first time that evening very much at his ease. It was all much simpler, upon experiment, than he had feared. He stood now in a corner of the ornate apartment, whither he had wandered in examining the pictures on the walls,

Balder nor the piano. His thoughts were concentrated jealously upon his own position in this novel setting. He said to himself that it was all right. Old Lady Plowden had seemed to like him from the start. The genial, if somewhat abstracted, motherliness of her welcome had been, indeed, his sheet anchor throughout the evening. She had not once failed to nod her head and smile and twinkle her little kind eyes through their spectacles at him, whenever by word or look he had addressed her. Nor did his original half-suspicion, that this was her manner to people in general, justify itself upon observation. She was civil, even excessively civil, to the other

at she in no way desired to be thus identified. She seemed to carry herself with a deliberate aloofness underlying her surface amiability. Then he had spoken his few words with her, once or twice, he had got this effect of stony reserve close beneath her smile and smooth words. True, this might mean only that she felt herself out of her element, just as he did-but to him, really it did not matter what she

haired, beautiful, rather stately Lady Cressage, and the small, swarthy, round-shouldered daughter of the house, peering through her pince-nez from under unduly thick black brows, formed a party of their own. Their politeness toward him had been as identical in all its little shades of distance and reservation as if they had been governed from a single brain-centre. It would be unfair to them to assume from their manner that they disliked him, or were even unfavourably impressed by him. The finesse of that manner was f

position rose suddenly now in his mind, and claimed his attention. It became apparent to him, all at once, that his opinions about women would be henceforth invested with a new importance. He had scarcely before in his life worn evening dress in a domestic circle which included ladies-certainly never in the presence of such certificated and hall-marked ladies as these. His future, however, was to be filled with experiences of this nature.

ited, somewhat sad withal-appealed to something in him. He moved forward cautiously, noiselessly, a dozen restricted paces, and halted again at the corner of a table. It was a relief that the Honourable Balder, thou

t on the shining wall beyond threw everything into a soft, uniform shadow, this side of the thread of dark tracery which ou

composure, yes, and melancholy, of the great lady-they were all there in their supreme expression. And yet-why, she was no great lady at all. She was the daughter of his old General Kervick-the necessitous and haughtily-humble old mi

that it was he who suggested Kervick's name. It would have been his sister, of course, who was evidently such chums with Lady Cressage, who gave him the hint to help the General to something if he could. And when you came to think of it, these aristocrats and military men and so on,

al Kervick's daughter. He wondered if she knew about the Company, and about him, and about his ability to solidify to any extent her father's financial position. Even more, upon reflection, he wondered whether she was very fond of her father; would she be extremely grateful to one who should render him securely comfortable for life? Miss

ith obvious feeling. "I don't know w

nc or two," replied Miss Madden. "I arranged and harmonized them-

music-and musicians-like this," affirmed L

Thorpe moved forward and