A _superficial_ change undoubtedly there has been, corresponding to a profound change in all our conditions. A year or two ago... It is not too much to call it a revolution, so many unexpected things have happened. In those days one never dreamed that my brother-in-law would drag what I suppose I must call his "honour" through the Divorce Court; and, so long as poor Kathleen bore him one daughter after another, it seemed safe to presume that Cheniston and the title would come sooner or later to Arthur and, through him, to our boy. The problem of that period was to "carry on", as Will would say; my brother Brackenbury and his wife would not like to be called mean, but they were certainly _careful_, and it was only by eternal pinching and scraping that we made both ends meet. Many young men in Will's position would have put themselves up to auction, as it were, and married the first rich woman who came their way. Goodness me, my boy had a big enough choice! First of all Hilda, and he resigned his claims there to my nephew Culroyd; then the South American widow, but he very quickly saw how unsuitable _that_ would be; and you may say--without any unkindness--that my niece Phyllida was waiting all the time for him to drop the handkerchief and only consented to marry Hilary Butler when the other thing was out of the question. Unfortunately you can't please _everybody_, and Will was old-fashioned enough to desire a wife with whom he could be in love and to shut his ears to all the lures of money... Money? A man of his ability can always _earn_ money, and our only difficulty was to know where to start. He contemplated _la haute finance_ for a while, but was repelled by the prospect of having to work with men like Sir Adolf Erckmann; then he explored the possibilities of Mr. Surdan's shipyards, but this for some reason was not to his taste. Now I truly honestly believe that he has found his _métier_.... While he was still undecided about his career, I was reluctant to part with the house in Mount Street, though for many years it had really been too expensive for us. One grows, indeed, to love one's own vine and fig-tree, and the place was _filled_ with associations. Did I ever tell you that the princess was good enough to say that, in coming there, she always felt she was coming _home_? ... With Will gone, the place is a white elephant; and I cannot flatter myself that any little _niche_ I may occupy makes me indispensable to the life of London. When people talk about inconsistency, they fancy a change in _you_, but it doesn't occur to them that the world all _round_ you may have changed. I had long contemplated _radical_ alterations and was only perplexed to know where to begin.