“I CONGRATULATE you, my dear,” said Miss Strong to her companion, as they passed along the cloisters at the conclusion of their visit, “that you have secured the friendship of one of the best women in the world. I knew what her intentions towards you were the moment we entered the room. Didn’t you see that the Duchess wore the great Scarswicke Emerald? And I knew that she had resolved to carry out her intentions when she took you into her own boudoir. I have never been in there myself; but then, you see, I wasn’t, as it were, born quite in the purple. Lady Lavinia would give her shoulders to be so distinguished, and she hates you already with the excess of jealousy. My dear, your position in Hampton Court Palace is established, and I heartily wish you joy.” It is now high time that the reader should be informed who the great lady was who had accorded such a kind reception to Evelyn Manwaring. Catharine, Duchess of Ribblesdale, Baroness Scarswicke in her own right (she was sixteenth in succession to that ancient dignity), succeeded her father, the late Baron, at the early age of fifteen. Left to the charge of an old spinster aunt, and with somewhat narrow means, she passed the greater part of her youth in the ancient family seat, and in comparative seclusion. One of the young Baroness’s trustees was John, fourth Duke of Ribblesdale, a nobleman of mature years, great experience, and very considerable talents. He had served his country well upon many critical occasions, and had more than once filled a high office of State. The Duke was one whose patriotism was acknowledged and respected by even his bitterest political opponents, and men of all parties recognised him, as they recognised the late Earl of Derby, as a high-minded nobleman of the fine old English type. Had he desired it, he might have aspired to the office of Prime Minister, but the Duke of Ribblesdale, who was one of the most unselfish men in existence, did not aspire, but was content to work, and see others reap the fruit of his labours. A man of wide reading and wider experience, and of the soundest practical sense, he stood high in the esteem of his Sovereign, and the advice of no one on any difficult point was more sought for and more valued than that of the Duke. Wise, however, as he was as regards the interests of others, he was the very reverse of wise as regards his own. In any matter which seemed in any way to involve the promotion of philanthropic schemes, the Duke was the dupe and the victim of speculators. He was perpetually investing large sums in concerns which did not and could not pay. Artizans’ Clothing Improvement Societies, Associations for Providing Country Milk at the Houses of the Labouring Classes, Waste Lands and Heaths Remunerative Cultivation Leagues--these and such as these were gulfs into which the Duke cast his money, with the almost invariable result of seeing it lost to him for ever, while