"Hired a fellow as tutor to the boys without references or recommendations, solely because he was good-looking, as far as I can make out." "Who told you?" "My father." "Did he do it?" "He and Elizabeth between them. Kitty sings his praises in every letter. He teaches the girls Italian." Rupert said nothing. "So I am going to Italy chiefly to see what the fellow is like. I can't make out whether he is young or old. Kitty calls him divinely handsome; and my father speaks of his grey hairs." "And Miss Murray?" "Miss Murray," said Percival, rather slowly, "doesn't speak of him at all." Then, he added, in quicker tones--"Doubtless he isn't worth her notice. Elizabeth can be a very grand lady when she likes. Upon my word, Vivian, there are times when I wonder that she ever deigned to bestow a word or look even upon me!" "You are modest," said Rupert, drily. "Modesty's my foible; it always was. So, Hey for the sunny South, as I said before. 'O, swallow, swallow, flying, flying South, Fly to her, and fall upon her gilded eaves, And tell her, tell her, what I tell to thee.' Any message for the swallow, sir?" touching an imaginary cap. "Shall I say that 'Dark and true and tender is the North,' and 'Fierce and false and fickle is the South,' or any similar statement?" "I have no message," said Rupert. "So be it. Do you know anything of young Luttrell--Hugo Luttrell--by-the-bye?" "Very little. My sister is interested in him." "He is going to the bad at an uncommonly swift pace--that is all." "Old Mrs. Luttrell talks of making him her heir," said Vivian. "She asked him down last winter but he wouldn't go." "I don't wonder at it. She must be a very tough old lady if she thinks that he could shoot there with much pleasure after his cousin's accident." "I don't suppose that Mrs. Luttrell asked him with any such notion," returned Rupert. "She merely wanted him to spend a few days with her at Netherglen." "Has she much to leave? I thought the estates were entailed," said Percival. "She has a rather large private fortune. I expected to find that you knew all about it," said Rupert, with a smile. "It's the last thing that I should concern myself about," said Percival, superbly. And Vivian was almost sorry that he had made the remark, for it overset all the remains of his friend's good temper, and brought into ugly prominence the upright, black mark upon his forehead caused by his too frequent frown. Matters were not mended when Rupert asked, by way of changing the conversation, whether Percival's marriage were to take place on Miss Murray's return to England.