‘How pleasantly you lay your plans!’ he said; ‘and I stand quite alone in the world and belong to nobody. I think I shall go down to the docks to-morrow morning and pick my berth on board a China steamer.’ ‘Don’t,’ said Janet gently. ‘Go to Stillmington and enjoy yourself hunting those unhappy foxes; and then, since you are always restless, you can come up to town sometimes and give us an account of your sport.’ This permission exalted Geoffrey to the seventh circle in the lover’s paradise. It seemed to him like a promise. CHAPTER X. LUCIUS SURRENDERS A DOUBTFUL CHANCE. Lucius saw Mr. Pullman next day, and told him of the impression Lucille had made on her great-aunt. ‘Upon my word, sir, she’s a very lucky young woman,’ said the lawyer; ‘for Miss Glenlyne has a snug little fortune to dispose of, and has not a near relative to leave it to; for the Spalding Glenlynes are only third or fourth cousins, and she detests them. Now, Mr. Davoren, do you mean to put forward Miss Lucille Glenlyne’s claim to the estate now in the possession of Mr. Spalding Glenlyne?’ ‘That will depend on various circumstances, Mr. Pullman,’ answered Lucius. ‘First and foremost, you think the case a weak one.’ ‘Lamentably weak. You are able to prove the marriage;—granted. You may be able to prove the birth of a child; but how are you to identify the young lady you put forward with the child born at Sidmouth? How are you to supply the link which will unite the two ends of the chain?’ ‘Miss Glenlyne has acknowledged her niece.’ ‘Yes; but let Miss Glenlyne come forward to bear witness to her niece’s identity, and she will be laughed at as a weak old woman—almost an idiot. The only person who could have sworn to the girl’s identity was Ferdinand Sivewright. He is dead, and you did not even take his deposition to the facts within his knowledge. Even had you done so, such a document might have been useless; the man’s notoriously bad character would have vitiated his testimony. Mr. Davoren, I regret to say your case is as weak as it well can be. It is a case which a speculative attorney might take up perhaps, hazarding his not too valuable time and trouble against the remote contingency of success; but no respectable firm would be troubled with such a business, unless you could guarantee their costs at the outset.’ ‘I am not greedy for money, Mr. Pullman,’ replied Lucius, in no manner crestfallen at this disheartening opinion. ‘Were my case, or rather Lucille’s case, the strongest, it would still be doubtful with me how far I should do battle for her interests. She has been acknowledged by her great-aunt as a Glenlyne—that is the chief point in my mind. The name so long lost to her has been restored, and she has found a relative whose kindness may in some measure atone for her father’s cruelty. This Mr. Spalding Glenlyne acquired the estate by no wrongdoing of his own. It would be rather hard to oust him from it.’