"Oh dear no," she replied; "I have done nothing to tire myself." Then, as if anxious to avoid the subject of not dancing, she hurried on to another. "By-the-bye, Mary, I wanted to ask you who that fair-haired girl in blue was. I was so much amused by a flirtation between her and that young--what is his name?--he sat opposite me at dinner." "Oh, young Hilton and Fanny Mayne? Yes, they certainly do flirt, and it can never come to anything more. They have neither of them a penny, and he is not shaping particularly well in business, didn't you say, Henry? Too fond of amusing himself. We knew his parents--such nice people!" etc, etc. Some little local gossip followed, not particularly interesting to the two strangers, till some remark of Mrs Dalrymple's brought the Laurences' name into the conversation. Then both Roma and Captain Chancellor pricked up their ears. "How tired Mr Laurence looked to-night! I am sure he is doing too much," said Mrs Dalrymple, compassionately. "What does he do?" asked Captain Chancellor. "He is not a clergyman; but Miss Laurence said something about his giving a lecture to-night, unless I misunderstood her." "Oh no, you are quite right," answered Mrs Dalrymple. "He was lecturing on somebody--Milton or Shakespeare, or some one of that kind-- at the Wareborough-Brook Mechanics' Institution to-night. It is really very good of him. We went to hear him once. It was most interesting, though perhaps a little too long, and _I_ should have said, rather above his hearers' comprehension." "I don't know that, my dear--I don't know that," put in Mr Dalrymple. "Laurence knows what he is about. At one time perhaps I might have agreed with you--we were inclined to think him high-flown and unpractical, he and those young Thurstons--but we've come to change our opinion. Laurence's lectures have been most successful, and he certainly makes good use of his talents." "Are they always on literary subjects?" inquired Roma, languidly. "No; he varies them," was the reply. "He gave a set on heat--or light, was it? He is really a wonderful man--seems at home on every subject. How he finds time to get together all his knowledge is what puzzles me!" "Then, has he any regular occupation or profession?" asked Captain Chancellor. "Oh dear, yes," answered his hostess. "He is in business--just like Henry and every one else here. He is an unusually talented man. Every one says he should have been in one of the learned professions, but he doesn't seem to think so. Whatever he had been, he could not have worked harder. Eugenia tells me he very often sits up till daylight, reading and writing. He makes the girls work too. They copy out his lectures, and look up references and all sorts of things. He has educated them almost like boys. It's a wonder it hasn't spoilt them. Yet they are simple, unaffected, nice girls. It is only a pity he shuts them up so."