"Yes, I am decidedly good-looking, and I say it without vanity," he continued, "for I am looking at myself from a marketable point of view. And the lady? Suppose I always look at her through the clouds, for she will be elderly and plain--of that I may rest assured; but I can gild her; she will be gilded for me, and as the Scots say, `a' cats are grey i' the dark!' so why should I mind? If I wed the fairest woman under the sun I should forget her looks in a week, while other men worried me by their admiration. So there it is, ladies and gentlemen; the fair Clotilde and the manly Arthur Litton about to be sold by Society's prize-auction to the highest bidders, and this is the land where slavery is unknown--the land of the free! This, ladies and gentlemen, is Christian England!" He seemed to be highly amused at this idea, and laughed and gazed at himself in the glass as if perfectly satisfied that his face would make a change in his lot, after which he threw away the remains of the cigar he was smoking, and taking a bunch of keys from his pocket, he walked across to Elbraham's cabinet, which he unlocked, and helped himself to a couple of the best Rothschilds, one of which he lit. Arthur Litton was very thoughtful now, and it took some time to get to work; but he finished the task entrusted to him, and then, after a little consideration, he rose to go, making his way to Lady Littletown's. Her ladyship was at home, in the conservatory, the footman said; and treating the visitor as an old friend, he opened the drawing-room door, and Litton walked in unannounced. Her ladyship was busy, in a pair of white kid gloves, snipping off faded leaves and flowers, and she left her occupation to greet her visitor. "Well, Arturo, no bad news, I hope?" "Only that the great Potiphar, the man of money, is completely hooked, and determined to embark upon the troubled sea of matrimony." "Is that bad news?" said her ladyship. "I call it a triumph of diplomacy, Arturo. Spoils from the enemy!" "Then you are satisfied?" "More than satisfied, my clever diplomat, and you shall have your reward." "When?" Lady Littletown snipped here and snipped there, treating some of her choicest flowers in a way that would have maddened her head gardener had he seen, for unfaded flowers dropped here and there beneath the stands in a way that showed her ladyship to be highly excited. "Now look here, Arturo," she exclaimed at last, as she turned upon him, and seemed to menace him with her sharp-pointed scissors, which poked and snipped at him till a bystander might have imagined that Lady Littletown took him for a flower whose head gave her offence--"Now look here, Arturo, do you want to make me angry?" "No: indeed no," he cried deprecatingly. "Then why do you ask me such a question as that?" "Well," he said, smiling, "is it not reasonable that I should feel impatient?"