"I take it so because it is serious." The Judge's eyes and his tone were very grave. "Forgive me if I remind you that these _obiter dicta_ have grown out of a discussion of your money affairs, wherein you are bankrupt. If--and I ask your pardon if the supposition does you wrong--if you are relying on a brilliant marriage to help you out of financial difficulties--" He hesitated a moment, then went on slowly: "Perhaps I ought to warn you that, if at any time this does become a serious matter, you will have powerful opposition. I had not intended to tell you--though now I deem it best--that Mr. Stephen Allardyce Poultney has lately done me the honour to call; and--" "Lord Strathay's cousin?" I thought he could hear the thrumming of my heart. This was why he had beaten so long about the bush! "Was he--was he speaking about me?" I felt a sudden chill of apprehension, and almost feared to hear the answer. "He was; he came to the point with a refreshing directness worthy of a business man, and said that he wanted to know all about you." "And you--" "I need not trouble you with our conversation. In view of the attentions which his Lordship has been paying you, his cousin felt it a duty, he intimated, to make inquiries. He did not care a button, I inferred, for your position here, as it could not affect Lord Strathay's in England; but he had read the newspapers with pardonable perplexity, and asked if you were really the only daughter of a bonanza farmer. I did not feel it necessary to enter into particulars, but informed him that your father was rich in honesty and in the possession of a daughter good and beautiful enough for any Lord that lives. He thanked me and said 'quite so,' as Englishmen usually do say when they disagree with one. He added that he would try to get the poor beggar--for so he referred to his kinsman--away fishing. "You will note that, in the higher social strata, the choice of matrimonial partners has progressed beyond the personal selection so confidently assumed by the scientists, and has become a matter for relatives to--" "And my only relative in New York," I said slowly, wondering how fatal was this unexpected news, "has made it impossible for me to achieve a success that was almost within my grasp." I don't see that the remark was so very terrible, but he looked at me with an odd air of astonishment and consternation. Then he seemed to consider it best to treat my natural disappointment as a joke. "Not very serious is this conversation, as you have reminded me," he said. "You don't wish me to tell that which is not?" "Why, naturally--no." I was stunned, but I forced a laugh. "But it _is_ funny. Why--I was nearer landing the prize than I supposed, wasn't I?--that is, if I had wanted to land it?" "Um--yes; it was rather close. But in this world you'll find strong men often dissuading weak ones from action briefly meditated." He gazed at me solemnly, portentously, critically.