"And what did you say?" He shrugged his shoulders, and drank his tea. She shook her head and bit her lips. She would not hold her tongue, be he ever so angry. "I almost wish that she would marry the man, so that the matter might be settled. I don't suppose he would ever mention her name then himself. Has she gone back to Hendon yet?" "I don't know, my lady." "This is his punishment for having run counter to his uncle's wishes and his uncle's principles. You cannot touch pitch and not be defiled." The pitch, as Mr. Greenwood very well understood, was the first Marchioness. "Did he say anything about Hampstead?" "Not a word." "I suppose we are not to talk about him either! Unfortunate young man! I wonder whether he feels himself how thoroughly he is destroying the family." "I should think he must." "Those sort of men are so selfish that they never think of any one else. It does not occur to him what Frederic might be if he were not in the way. Nothing annoys me so much as when he pretends to be fond of the children." "I suppose he won't come any more now." "Nothing will keep him away,--unless he were to die." Mr. Greenwood shook his head sadly. "They say he rides hard." "I don't know." There was something in the suggestion which at the moment made the clergyman almost monosyllabic. "Or his yacht might go down with him." "He never yachts at this time of the year," said the clergyman, feeling comfort in the security thus assured. "I suppose not. Bad weeds never get cut off. But yet it is astonishing how many elder sons have been--taken away, during the last quarter of a century." "A great many." "There never could have been one who could be better spared," said the stepmother. "Yes;--he might be spared." "If you only think of the advantage to the family! It will be ruined if he comes to the title. And my Fred would be such an honour to the name! There is nothing to be done, of course." That was the first word that had ever been spoken in that direction, and that word was allowed to pass without any reply having been made to it, though it had been uttered almost in a question. CHAPTER XIX. LADY AMALDINA'S LOVER.