"It was, my dears," said the Honourable Philippa, letting the water from the urn run over the top of the teapot. "Bless me, how careless! I am glad I consented to allow you both to go, for you see how necessary to a proper state of existence a due amount of money becomes." "How admirably dear Lady Littletown manages her income!" said the Honourable Isabella. "Yes, and how needful a good income really is! Yes, it was a very _distingue_ dinner. Marie, my child, Lord Henry Moorpark is most gentlemanly, is he not?" "Oh yes, I like him very much," replied Marie, with animation, and a slight flush in her cheek, for she had been suddenly appealed to when thinking about Marcus Glen, and the way he had glanced at her more than once. "He seems a very nice old gentleman." "Hem!" coughed the Honourable Philippa austerely. "I do not think him old." "Certainly not!" exclaimed the Honourable Isabella; "hardly elderly." "Decidedly no," continued the Honourable Philippa. "By the way, Clotilde, my love, you found Mr Elbraham very pleasant?" "Oh yes, aunt." "I am glad of it," said the Honourable Philippa, smiling graciously, while Ruth, open-eyed and listening, went on with her breakfast, wondering at the change. "He is the great financier--enormously wealthy. I hear that he is to be made a duke by the Austrian emperor. He is already a chevalier." "Indeed, aunt?" said Clotilde, who also was thinking of Captain Glen. "Yes, my dear; his houses are a marvel, I believe, for their wealth and display." "Is he a Jew, aunt?" said Marie innocently. "My dear child, no! How can you ask such a question, Marie? I have heard something about his family being of Hebrew descent--Eastern Hebrew descent--Elbraham, Abraham, very ancient, no doubt; but I don't know for certain, and really I do not care to know: for what does it matter?" "Yes, what indeed?" said her sister. "A very gentlemanly, highly-cultured man." "With a wonderful knowledge of the world and its ways. He has been a deal in Egypt, did not Lady Littletown say, Isabella?" "Yes, with the Khedive," was the reply. "Enormously wealthy." The breakfast ended, the young ladies were dismissed. "I would not go to the schoolroom this morning, my dears," said the elder sister; "go and lie down for an hour or two and rest. After lunch Lady Littletown is coming with the carriage to take you for a drive, and I should like you to look your best." "Rie," exclaimed Clotilde, as soon as they were in their room with Ruth, who was debating in her own mind whether she ought not to take her cousins into her confidence about Mr Montaigne, but shrinking from relating the communication to such unsympathetic ears. "Well?" "You, Ruth, if you dare to say a word about what we talk about, I'll kill you!" cried Clotilde. "I think you may trust me," said Ruth, smiling. "Then mind you do keep secret," continued Clotilde. "Rie," she cried again, "I can see through it all; I know what it means."