Her husband did not beat about the bush in the least, he was always a man who spoke out his mind unhesitatingly. “Yes, I have thought it well out. If he is the man of Rosabelle’s fancy, and everything points that way, I am quite willing he should marry her. The moment he asks for my consent he shall have it.” Mrs. Morrice heaved a gentle little sigh. “I know how fond you are of Richard, that you could hardly be fonder of him if he were your own son. Well, I own I am just a little sorry that her choice did not fall upon Archie. It is not to be wondered at, for he is to me what Richard Croxton is to you.” Mr. Morrice frowned ever so slightly at the suggestion, but he turned away his face quickly so that his wife should not see it. He had wasted his heart upon Richard’s mother, and he could never give another woman what he had given to her. But he was fond of his wife, he appreciated her charm, her good qualities, the help she gave him in the social side of his life, and he would not have pained her for the world. “If Rosabelle had set her heart upon Archie,” he said gravely, “I cannot say for certain what my attitude would have been. I should have hated to make her miserable, and yet—and yet I could not have approved. I am glad that things are as they are. Archie has his good qualities, no doubt; he is pleasant and amiable; I daresay he would make a good husband. But, forgive me if I speak a little too plainly, he is an incurable idler, and much too fond of pleasure—I could not bear to see her married to a man of that stamp.” There was a little quiver in the wife’s voice as she replied: “Are you not just a little too hard upon poor Archie, Rupert? Remember, he has not had the advantages of Richard’s training. If he had had you for a tutor, how different he would have been. My brother-in-law is not an ideal guardian of youth. An idler himself by the accident of birth, and I fear by inclination, he does not see the necessity for work in others.” The great financier, whose life was one long strenuous working day, from choice not necessity, shrugged his shoulders. “Well, his uncle will leave him his money, that seems understood, and therefore Archie has no need to work for a subsistence. But I should think better of him if he took up some occupation, if only as a hobby. Nothing saps a man’s character like the idle loafing life he is leading now.” There was a note of bitterness in Mrs. Morrice’s voice as she replied to those uncompromising remarks. “It is not at all certain that some day Archie will not have to work for a living.” Morrice looked at his wife in some surprise. “But Sir George is credited with being a well-off man. You have told me the same yourself.” “He is well off perhaps now. But whether he dies rich or not will depend upon what the gaming table and the race-course have left him.”