'Aye, and better than Aladdin's, for you need not rub it and bring up that confounded ugly genii; the slave of your ring works unseen.' 'So he does,' laughed Wylder, in a state of elation, 'and he's not done working yet, I can tell you. When the estates are joined in one, they'll be good eleven thousand a year; and Larkin says, with smart management, I shall have a rental of thirteen thousand before three years! And that's only the beginning, by George! Sir Henry Twisden can't hold his seat--he's all but broke--as poor as Job, and the gentry hate him, and he lives abroad. He has had a hint or two already, and he'll never fight the next election. D'ye see--hey?' And Wylder winked and grinned, with a wag of his head. 'M.P.--eh? You did not see that before. I look a-head a bit, eh? and can take my turn at the wheel--eh?' And he laughed with cunning exultation. 'Miss Rachel will find I'm not quite such a lubber as she fancies. But even then it is only begun. Come, Charlie, you used to like a bet. What do you say? I'll buy you that twenty-five guinea book of pictures--what's its name?--if you give me three hundred guineas one month after I'm a peer of Parliament. Hey? There's a sporting offer for you. Well! what do you say--eh?' 'You mean to come out as an orator, then?' 'Orator be diddled! Do you take me for a fool? No, Charlie; but I'll come out strong as a _voter_--that's the stuff they like--at the right side, of course, and that is the way to manage it. Thirteen thousand a year--the oldest family in the county--and a steady thick and thin supporter of the minister. Strong points, eh, Charlie? Well, do you take my offer?' I laughed and declined, to his great elation, and just then the gong sounded and we were away to our toilets. While making my toilet for dinner, I amused myself by conjecturing whether there could be any foundation in fact for Mark's boast, that Miss Brandon liked him. Women are so enigmatical--some in everything--all in matters of the heart. Don't they sometimes actually admire what is repulsive? Does not brutality in our sex, and even rascality, interest them sometimes? Don't they often affect indifference, and occasionally even aversion, where there is a different sort of feeling? As I went down I heard Miss Lake chatting with her queen-like cousin near an open door on the lobby. Rachel Lake was, indeed, a very constant guest at the Hall, and the servants paid her much respect, which I look upon as a sign that the young heiress liked her and treated her with consideration; and indeed there was an insubordinate and fiery spirit in that young lady which would have brooked nothing less and dreamed of nothing but equality. CHAPTER X. THE ACE OF HEARTS. Who should I find in the drawing-room, talking fluently and smiling, after his wont, to old Lady Chelford, who seemed to receive him very graciously, for her at least, but Captain Stanley Lake!