At the same time Lawrence was a little surprised. He had several times paid quite as much and even more attention to members of the fair sex without meaning it, and gone quietly away, but he never before remembered experiencing the unpleasant sensation that he had acted like a cad. Did he then care more than he supposed? he asked once or twice. No, this was not the solution, for if anything, he felt relief as the distance between them lengthened. It was then, perhaps, the fearless measure of scorn that Paddy had dealt out to him, forcing him to see himself as he looked in the eyes of anyone who loved truth and sincerity. This, and the growing consciousness of how infinitely above him in all that matters most, was the girl whose heart he had carelessly trifled with. The passengers on that particular P. and O. steamboat bound for India found Lawrence taciturn and morose to a degree, and in the end left him severely alone. When he arrived in Calcutta he revived, for there was so much to distract his attention. Gwendoline was charming. Earl Selloyd’s attentions were more pronounced than ever, and playing at rivals amused him. And there was no risk of any serious harm this time either, for Gwen was a wholly different type of girl from Eileen, and perfectly well able to take care of herself. She liked queening it over him, and he was useful to her, and for the rest she was more likely to trifle with him, than give him a chance to trifle with her. They saw a great deal of each other because Lawrence was a great friend of both her father’s and mother’s, and their doors were always open to him. So, while living at his club in Calcutta, he spent a part of each day with the Carews, either lounging in the morning-room in the morning, or dining with them in the evening, or accompanying them to some of the endless social festivities they attended. People soon began to talk, and generally designated him the Earl’s chief rival, but neither Gwendoline nor Lawrence paid any attention, only amusing themselves with the Earl’s discomfiture. Mrs Carew was rather set upon the coronet, however, and endeavoured to enlist Lawrence upon her side. The topic was brought up in the drawing-room one afternoon about a month after he arrived, and just in the middle of it Gwen herself burst into the room. “He is an extremely nice man, and it is such an excellent position,” her mother was saying, and then, she stopped short to find her daughter standing before her with laughter in her splendid dark eyes. “So mamma is making a countess of me off-hand, is she?” she asked, turning to Lawrence, who was looking on with an amused smile from the depths of a big easy-chair. “We were just considering how a coronet would become you,” he replied. “Oh! the coronet’s all right,” shrugging her shoulders, “but the man! Heaven preserve me from marrying a woolly lamb with a spring inside, that says ‘Baa-a-a’ when you squeeze it.”