"I cannot understand all those vague hints, tales and rumours, or who sets them afloat," replied Richard, making an effort to preserve his calmness. Downie saw the veins rise in his brother's forehead while their uncle had been speaking; and he smiled a quiet smile, as he bent curiously over his glass. "Full many a shaft at random sent, Finds mark the archer never meant;" and he could see that some of the random remarks in the present conversation, rankled deeply in Richard's breast; and that this conversation had verged, more than once, on somewhat dangerous ground. "Well, it is a marvel to me, Richard, how a handsome fellow like you can have escaped so long, known as you are to be the heir to my title and estates," continued the old lord, still harping on the same topic: "for the girls now go in for winning in matrimony, as we used to do at Ascot and Epsom." "How, my lord?" asked Downie, as if he had never heard the joke before. "By a neck--a bare neck and bosom added; witness the beautiful and aristocratic demi-mondes at the Opera! Elizabeth was the first English-woman who, to excite admiration, exposed her person thus. The virgin queen wore a huge ruff certainly; but it stuck up _behind_ her, she was _décolletée_ enough in front." "I prefer her Scottish rival--collared to her pretty neck, and sleeved to the slender wrist," said Richard Trevelyan; "by Jove, I should not have cared for flirting with a woman who carried a fan in one hand and a hatchet in the other." "Our ancestor, Henry Lord Lamorna, was governor of Rougemont Castle, in Devonshire, under Queen Elizabeth," said the peer pompously; "but having married the daughter of a simple knight in Surrey, he lost Her Majesty's favour at Court, and had to live in retirement here at Rhoscadzhel. Let that mistake be a warning to you, Richard." "It happened pretty long ago," replied Richard, laughing; "and at forty years of age I am surely unlikely to commit an act of folly----" "If it be not committed already?" --"And lose your favour, even by marrying, 'the daughter of a simple knight.'" "With my favour you would lose this fine estate. But give me your hand, Dick, I know you will never do aught unworthy of our good old Cornish name of Trevelyan!" With a grand old-fashioned air--yet one full of kindness--the proud old man presented his thin white hand to his nephew, who pressed it affectionately, and then rose to withdraw. "Whither go you, Dick, so soon?" "Oh--anywhere, uncle," replied the other, wearily. "How, sir?" "Merely into the lawn to enjoy a post-prandial cigar," replied Richard, whose face wore an evident expression of annoyance, as he bowed and quitted the room. "We have worried him, I fear," said Downie, with a self-satisfied smile.