"To be sure," he cried; "the very thing! We must carry them off, Glen, dear boy. Like you know who." "And do you think our friend Marie will consent to be carried off?" "Well--er--yes; I dare say she would oppose it at first, but the moment she feels certain that her aunts mean to force her into a marriage with old Moorpark, I feel sure that she will yield." "Ah, well," said Glen, "we shall see; but look here, most chivalrous of youths, and greatest among lovers of romance--" "Oh, I say, how I do hate it when you take up that horrible chaffing tone!" "Chaff, my dear boy? No, no, this is sound commonsense! I do not say that under certain circumstances I might not have a brougham in waiting, and say to a lady `Here is the licence, let us be driven straight to the church and made one;' but believe me, my dear Dick, all those romantic, elopement-loving days are gone by. We have grown too matter-of-fact now." "Hang matter-of-fact! I mean to let nothing stand in my way, so I tell you! But, I say, have you heard?" "About your sisters? Yes." "Hang it, no!" cried Dick angrily; "let that rest. It's bad enough meeting Black Malpas at the mess-table, and being kept back by etiquette from hurling knives. I mean about the dinner." "What dinner?" "Dymcoxes'. And we're not asked. Our dinner's cold shoulder." "A dinner-party?" "Yes; and those two old buffers are to be there." Dick was right, for a dinner was given in the private apartments, where the ladies did their best; but it certainly was not a success, and Marie could not help bitterly contrasting the difference between the repast and its surroundings and that given by Lady Littletown. For the Honourable Misses Dymcox had been unfortunate in the purveyor to whom they had applied to furnish the dinner and all the necessaries. All the linen, the plate, the glass, and, above all, the ornamentation, had a cheap, evening-party supper aspect. There was the plated epergne which showed so much copper that it seemed to be trying to out-brazen the battered Roman cup-shaped wine-coolers, in each of which stood icing a bottle of champagne, quite unknown to fame--a wine with which a respectable bottle of Burton ale would have considered it beneath its dignity to associate. There were flowers upon the table furnished by the pastrycook; and though a couple of shillings would have supplied a modest selection of the real, according to well-established custom these were artificial, many of them being fearfully and wonderfully made.