He was a handsome stripling when his mother kissed him and sent him, with many injunctions as to study, to Dr. Hervey's, a handsome stripling, with golden down on his lip, and the hue of a ripe peach on his face; now he was a man of the world, assured, confident, easy in his carriage and bearing. He looked at his mother with half-defiance, half-amusement in his eyes. The strong, handsome woman, whose brave nature had never known fear, trembled for one moment when she remembered what she had to tell her son. He bent down to kiss her, and for one moment her heart relented to her son. She steeled herself with the recollection that what she had done was for his benefit. "I have good news for you, Lance," she said, with her stately grace; "very excellent news." "I am glad to hear it, mother," replied Lord Chandos, thinking to himself how much more this interview resembled that of a queen and a crown prince than of mother and son. "You have traveled quickly and would probably like some refreshment--you would like a glass of Madeira?" The truth was that her ladyship herself, with all her courage, felt that she required some artificial stimulant--the courage and pride of the proudest woman in England ebbed; she feared what she had to say. "An honor has been bestowed on you," she said, "one which would make any peer in England proud." His face brightened--he was keenly susceptible to the flattery implied in his mother's words. "You have been asked, together with Lord Dunferline, to represent our gracious sovereign at the marriage of the Princess Caroline at Hempsburg. Such an invitation, I need not tell you, is equivalent to a royal command." "I know it, mother, and I am delighted," he said, wondering in his own mind if he should be able to take Leone with him. "The notice is rather short," continued the countess; "but that is owing to some delay on the part of Lord Dunferline. I hear that you are the envy of every man at the club. You will have to leave England for Germany in three days; to-morrow you must be at the palace. I congratulate you, Lance; it is very seldom that a man so young as you receives so signal a favor." He knew it, and was proud accordingly; yet he said to himself that Leone must go with him; he could not live without Leone. Lady Lanswell continued: "Your father is delighted over it; I cannot tell you how pleased he is." Then Lord Chandos looked wonderingly around. "Where is my father?" he said. "I have not seen him yet." Lady Lanswell knew that he would not see him. The earl had fled ignominiously; he had declined to be present at the grand fracas between his wife and his son; he had left it all in my lady's hands. "Your father had some business that took him away this morning; he knew that I could say for him all that he had to say." Lord Chandos smiled, and the smile was not, perhaps, the most respectful in the world. My lady did not observe it.