324 THE MASTER OF THE HOUNDS. 



Immediately after breakfast, Malcolm conveyed the news to 

 his mother, who could not suppress her delight at the prospect 

 of her future daughter-in-law's advancement, as well as at Beau- 

 champ's elevation to a higher sphere. "And now, Charles," 

 she added, " I suppose the secret may be disclosed % " 



" Oh, no, my dear mother, our lips are sealed until Beauchamp 

 allows us to open them — that was the condition ; and our pro- 

 mises must be faithfully maintained. Moreover, the event has 

 not yet happened ; and should the old peer take a fresh lease, 

 we should only be laughed at and despised for reckoning our 

 chickens before they are hatched." 



The same afternoon, when Blanche and Constance, with 

 Malcolm and Fred, had set out for their usual ride, Mr. Har- 

 court called in Grosvenor Square, and, finding Lady Malcolm at 

 home, opened his commission by informing her of the joyful 

 realisation of his and Mrs. Harcourt's wishes, that morning, by 

 a proposal from the Marquis of Ayrshire for her niece's hand. 

 " This is really quite beyond our expectations, Lady Malcolm, 

 as the Marquis is enormously rich ; and he has offered, in the 

 most handsome manner, to settle the whole of her fortune, with 

 a large addition from his own, strictly upon herself, in case of 

 his decease, and five thousand a-year entirely at her own dis- 

 posal during his life." 



"Very liberal indeed," replied Lady Malcolm, rather 



coolly. 



" Then I presume, on the part of your niece, your ladyship 

 will at once accept Lord Ayrshire's proposals, as I believe she 

 has already given him sufficient encouragement to expect a 

 favourable answer." 



"There, Mr. Harcourt, I think Lord Ayrshire must be 

 under some delusion; as, from my own observation, Blanche 

 has not given him any encouragement at all ; in fact, from his 

 lordship's well-known character of playing the flirt with young 

 girls, she received a caution from me at first to be on her 

 guard j and I do not believe she ever entertained the most 

 remote idea of accepting his attentions as a suitor, although 

 finding him agreeable enough as an acquaintance." 



" I am quite astonished, Lady Malcolm, at this unexpected 

 intelligence. What can any girl be thinking of, to refuse such 



an offer?" 



" Perhaps, Mr. Harcourt, she may be thinking of some one 



else she likes better." 



" May I beg the favour, then, of your ladyship informing me 



