"No; if you want a Tempest pure and simple, look at the man with tow-coloured hair in the further doorway, making running with the little soda-water heiress. That is the regular Tempest style." "He is too beautiful; he has overdone it," said the other. "If he were less handsome, he would be better looking, and his hair looks like a wig. He has the face of a fool on him." "The last two generations have had no grit in them. Jack Tempest, the last man, might have done something, but he never came to the fore. He was a trustworthy Conservative, but not an energetic man like his father, the old minister, who lies in Westminster Abbey." "Perhaps the present man will come to the fore." "Perhaps! I know he will; you can see it in his face, and he has the _prestige_ of his name and wealth to back him. But I don't know which side he will take. I know that he voted right at the last election, but so did half the Liberals. I incline to think he has Liberal leanings, but he refused to stand three years ago for the family constituency, which is an absolute certainty whatever he professes himself, and he has been secretary to the Embassy at St. Petersburg for the last three years." "He is very like his mother's family, except that the Fanes are not so ugly." "Of course he is like his mother's family; it's an open secret. Look at him now; he is speaking to Lord Frederick Fane, his mother's--first cousin. There's a family resemblance for you! I wonder they stand together." His companion drew in his breath. The likeness between the elder man and the young one was unmistakable. "Does he know, do you think?" he asked after a moment. "Of course he must know that there is a 'but' about himself. People don't grow up in ignorance of such things; but I should think he does _not_ know that it is more than a suspicion, that it is a moral certainty, and that Lord Frederick---- But it is seven and twenty years ago, and it is half forgotten now. He is not the only heir with a doubt about him. He will be a credit to the Tempests, anyhow. If the property had fallen into the hands of those two thieves, Colonel Tempest and his son, there would not have been much left of it for the next generation." "It's frightfully hot!" said the younger man. "I shall bolt." "Just home from Africa, and find it hot!" said the other. "Ah!"--with sudden interest, looking back to the doorway--"I thought so. Hemsworth was not waiting for nothing. By ---- she _is_ handsome, and what a figure! She is the tallest woman in the room except Lady Delmour's two yards of unmarriageable maypole. Look how she moves, and the way her head is set on her shoulders. If I had not a wife and seven children, I should make a fool of myself. I remember her mother, just as handsome twenty years ago, but not so brilliant, and with an unhappy look about her. Hang Tempest! I won't wait any longer for him. I must go and speak to her before Hemsworth takes possession of her."