"I think she is a pretty girl; and the gentlemen tell me that she rides bravely." "Don't you consider her divine?" he asked. "My dear Ben, one lady never considers another to be divine. Among ourselves we are terribly human, if not worse. Do you mean to tell me that you are in love with Ayala Dormer?" "You have guessed it," said he. "You always do guess everything." "I generally do guess as much as that, when young gentlemen find young ladies divine. Do you know anything about Miss Dormer?" "Nothing but her beauty;--nothing but her wit;--nothing but her grace! I know all that, and I don't seem to want to know any more." "Then you must be in love! In the first place she hasn't got a sixpence in the world." "I don't want sixpences," said the Captain, proudly. "And in the next place I am not at all sure that you would like her people. Father and mother she has none." "Then I cannot dislike them." "But she has uncles and aunts, who are, I am afraid, objectionable. She lives with a Mr. Dosett, who is a clerk in Somerset House,--a respectable man, no doubt, but one whom you would not perhaps want at your house very often." "I don't care about uncles and aunts," said Captain Batsby. "Uncles and aunts can always be dropped much easier than fathers and mothers. At any rate I am determined to go on, and I want you to put me in the way. How must I find her?" "Go to No. 10, Kingsbury Crescent, Bayswater. Ask for Mrs. Dosett and tell her what you've come about. When she knows that you are well off she will not turn a deaf ear to you. What the girl may do it is beyond me to say. She is very peculiar." "Peculiar?" said the Captain with another sigh. Lady Albury did, in truth, think Ayala was very peculiar, seeing that she had refused two such men as Tom Tringle in spite of his wealth, and Colonel Stubbs in spite of his position. This she had done though she had no prospects of her own before her, and no comfortable home at the present. Might it not be more than probable that she would also refuse Captain Batsby, who was less rich than the one and certainly less known to the world than the other? But as to this it was not necessary that she should say anything. To assist Colonel Stubbs she was bound by true affection for the man. In regard to her husband's half-brother she was only bound to seem to assist him. "I can write a line to Mrs. Dosett, if you wish it," she said, "or to Miss Dormer." "I wish you would. It would be best to the aunt, and just tell her that I am fairly well off. She'll tell Ayala I could make quite a proper settlement on her. That kind of thing does go a long way with young ladies."