“He is a gentleman also, whatever his father may be,” said Edgar; “and though he is a bore he has a great many advantages to offer. He is rich and he has a good position, and some reputation, such as it is. I should not like to marry him myself, if the question were put to me; but Clare has her own ambitions, and might choose to influence the world as the wife of a statesman. Why shouldn’t she? These are all substantial advantages, whereas----” “Whereas I am a miserable beggar, twice her age, with not even much to brag of in the way of reputation,” said Arthur Arden. “Say no more about it; I perceive the contrast sufficiently as it is.” Edgar did not say any more; but looked so serious and unmoved by his cousin’s impatience, that he occasioned Arthur a new sensation. To be set down by this boy, whom he had believed to be a simpleton and enthusiast! To meet the gravity of a look which became penetrating and keen the moment it was roused with such an interest--all this was utterly unexpected. He had feared Clare, but he had said to himself, with the contempt of a man of the world for Edgar’s open temper and liberal heart, that he could twine her brother round his finger. Indeed, there had not seemed any particular credit in so doing. Anybody could do it, even a novice. The young man could be persuaded out of or into anything, and was not in reality worth considering at all. But now Arthur Arden paused, and changed his mind. The tables were turned--the simpleton had seen through the whole question at once, and had calmly snubbed him, Arthur Arden, and put him back in his proper place. By Jove!--a fellow who had taken his inheritance from him, and who probably had no more real right to it than----. What a drivelling fool old Arden was to put up with it, and how hard a case for himself! All this fermented so strongly in Arthur’s mind that he flung off the restraints which had hitherto confined him. He had been, by way of being very civil to Edgar since he came to the house, deferring to his wishes and consulting all his tastes; but if this was all that was to come of it! Accordingly, he left Edgar abruptly, and went and joined himself to Clare and her supposed admirer. “Here is Frivolity come to the rescue, in case my young cousin should become too wise,” he said. “We don’t want to have her made too wise. She is cleverer than all the rest of us by nature; and, Newmarch, I can’t have her made more dangerous still by your art.” “Miss Arden instructs instead of needing to be instructed,” said Lord Newmarch. “What astonishes me is the breadth of her views. She does not go into detail, as women generally do, but takes a broad grasp. I assure you, her feeling about the education of the people and the knowledge of their wants is marvellous. She knows the poorer classes as well as I flatter myself I know them, and her knowledge can only come by intuition, whereas mine is the result of careful study and----”