The admiral would have been well off if he had not had such a large family; but thirteen children are enough to try the resources of any profession. Five of the brothers and sisters were married, and should have been independent, but the many expenses contingent on matrimony, and the numerous grandchildren with which they annually endowed him, often brought them back in _forma pauperis_ on their father’s hands. His nursery offspring, too, would soon be needing education and a return to England, so that Sir Richard had to think twice before he acceded to the requests of his marriageable maidens for ball dresses and pocket-money. All these drawbacks in her domestic life Nora confided, little by little, to her new friend, the earl, until the young man yearned to carry the girl away to England with him and give her all that she desired. He could not help thinking, as he listened to her gay, rattling talk, how splendidly she would do the honours of Thistlemere and Cotswood for him; what a graceful, elegant, witty countess she would make; what an attraction for his bachelor friends; what a hostess to receive the ladies of his family. The upshot was just what might have been expected. Lounging one day on a bench under the shade of the orange-trees which overhang the water’s edge, whilst their companions had wandered along the quay, Lord Ilfracombe asked her if she would go back to England with him. Nora was secretly delighted with the offer, but not at all taken aback. ‘What do you think?’ she inquired, looking up at him archly with her bright eyes. ‘You know I’ve liked you ever since you came here, and if you can manage to pull along with me, I’m sure I can with you.’ ‘Pull along with you, my darling!’ cried the young man. ‘Why, I adore you beyond anything. I don’t know how I should get on now without your bright talk and fascinating ways to cheer my life.’ ‘Well, you’ll have to talk to papa about it, you know,’ resumed Nora. ‘I don’t suppose he’ll make any objection (he’ll be a great fool if he does), still there’s just the chance of it, so I can’t say anything for certain till you’ve seen him. He’s awfully particular, very religious, you know, and always says he’d rather marry us to parsons without a halfpenny, than dukes who were not all they ought to be. But that may be all talkee-talkee! Though I hope you’re a good boy, all the same, for my own sake!’ ‘Oh, I’m an awfully good boy,’ replied Lord Ilfracombe. ‘This is the very first offer I ever made a girl in my life, and if you won’t have me, Nora, it will be the last. Say you like me a little, darling, whatever papa may say.’ ‘I _do_ like you ever so much, and I don’t believe there’ll be any hitch in the matter.’ ‘But if there were--if your father has any objection to me as a son-in-law--will that make you break with me, Nora?’