“And I must look up my own old set. Not that I know many people, for I lived such a hide-and-seek sort of life when I was in England. Can you get me rooms in this house? We can commonize, you know. I left my portmanteaus on board the _Baron_. I suppose there’s a boots, or a somebody of the scout species appertaining to this establishment, who can take a cab, and fetch them for me?” Thus unceremoniously did Antipholus of Syracuse establish himself in the abode of his ungracious brother. Frankenstein, pursued by the monster of his creation, could scarcely have seemed more ill at ease than Harcourt Lowther under the infliction of his brother’s society. Was it that these men were too much alike? Did Harcourt think that the keen eyes of his brother would follow every thread in the intricate network of his scheme, and the subtle brain of his brother would apply itself to plotting against him? But the coolness so apparent in Harcourt’s reception of the returning wanderer made no impression whatever on that gentleman. Roderick Lowther stretched his long legs upon his brother’s hearth-rug, and smoked his brother’s cigars, with a serene indifference as to his brother’s feelings. “If you dine anywhere to-day you can take me with you,” he said, blandly; “and to-morrow I’ll introduce you to a splendid set of fellows at the ‘Travellers’.’ You haven’t thought of an heiress yet, I suppose?” “No.” “Ah, you’ll hit upon something in that way presently, I dare say, if you run your mind’s eye over your visiting list. I’m in no hurry. Three months is a small eternity in these days of railroads and photography.” “And you really would marry?” said Harcourt again, very thoughtfully. “Really would? Of course I would, if I could get the chance of making an advantageous match, and propitiate my aunt Dorothea by the sacrifice. You know how bent the prudent old lady has always been on my making a great marriage, and restoring the forgotten glories of the Lowthers. Yes, Harcourt, I come prepared for victory, and I trust to your brotherly friendship to help me to see and conquer.” “Humph! By the bye, I suppose you have heard nothing of----” “Not a word,” answered Roderick, rather hastily; “I know what you’re going to talk about, and as that’s rather an unpleasant subject to me, we may as well agree to avoid it. I wrote a letter, candid, explanatory, and so forth; promising to do what I considered my duty. I don’t profess to be a generous man, and I freely acknowledge that I’m a very poor one; so the modest annual sum, which I considered my duty, was----well, _very modest_! However, the letter was unanswered. People drop through, you see,” concluded Mr. Lowther the elder, blowing away a slender puff of blue vapour, as if he had been blowing away a troublesome subject; “and when people do, of their own election, drop through, I can’t see that it’s any fellow’s duty to dig them up again. _You_ haven’t heard anything, I suppose?” “Not a word.”