"Then perhaps the wonder ceases. And yet, in another way--" Mrs. Toplady broke off, and added in a lower voice, "Of course you know all about his circumstances?" "No, in deed I don't. Tell me about him, please." "But haven't you heard that he is the poorest man in the House of Lords?" "I had no idea of it," cried May. "How should I have known? Really? He is so poor?" "I imagine he has barely enough to live upon. The family was ruined long ago." "But why didn't you tell me? Does my aunt know?" May's voice did not express resentment, nor, indeed, strong feeling of any kind. The revelation seemed merely to surprise her. She was smiling, as if at the amusingly unexpected. "Lady Ogram certainly knows," said Mrs. Toplady. "Then of course that's why he does nothing," May exclaimed. "Fancy!" Her provincialism was becoming very marked. "A lord with hardly enough to live upon! But I'm astonished that he seems so cheerful." "Lord Dymchurch has a very philosophical mind," said the older lady, with gravity humorously exaggerated. "Yes, I suppose he has. Now I shall understand him better. I'm glad he's going to be at Rivenoak. You know that he asked me to advise him about what he should do. It'll be rather awkward, though. I must get him to tell me the truth." "You'll probably have no difficulty in that. It's pretty certain that he thinks you know all about him already. If he hadn't, I feel sure he wouldn't go to Rivenoak." The girl mused, smiling self-consciously. "I had better tell you the truth, Mrs. Toplady," were her next words, in a burst of confidence. "I think Lord Dymchurch is very nice--as a friend. But only as a friend." "Thank you for your confidence, May. Do you know that I suspected something of the kind." "I want to be friends with him," pursued May, impulsively. "I shall get him to tell me all about himself, and we shall see what he can do. Of course there mustn't be any misunderstanding." Mrs. Toplady had not been prepared for this tranquil reasonableness. May was either more primitive, or much more sophisticated, than she had supposed. Her interest waxed keener. "Between ourselves, my dear," she remarked, "that is exactly what I should have anticipated. You are very young, and the world is at your feet. Of money you have no need, and, if Lord Dymchurch _had_ had the good fortune to please you--. But you are ambitious. I quite understand; trust me. Poor Dymchurch will never do anything. He is merely a bookish man. But, whilst we are talking of it, there's no harm in telling you that your aunt doesn't quite see the matter with our eyes. For some reason--I don't know exactly what it is--Lady Ogram is very favourable to poor Lord Dymchurch." "I have noticed that," said May, quietly. "Of course it makes no difference." "You think not?" asked Mrs. Toplady, beginning to be genuinely impressed by this young woman's self-confidence.