270 fHE MAStEK OS' THE HOUKDS. 



"I tliiiik not," was the reply. " His opinion on that point 

 is pretty generally known, although he was sitting wath her 

 the whole of the opera in Lady Malcolm's box the other 

 night." 



" Well, I am surprised at his want of taste. "What can he 

 see to admire in a bashful, country-looking girl, without the 

 semblance of fashion about her?" 



" Danby is an odd fish," replied Lord Henry, " and takes 

 odd fancies into his head, but I suspect is in earnest about this 

 Scotch lassie, from having introduced her and her aunt to the 

 Duchess the moment they entered the room this evening. Now 

 you see, Fanny, between ourselves, this young lady's money 

 would just suit a poor devil of a younger son like myself, and 

 some people do say she was not an unwilling party to Lord 

 Vancourt's attempted abduction, only that her cousin, Malcolm, 

 for the credit of the family, took it up with a high hand. A 

 few hints to your friend. Lady Mary, on this point won't lose 

 their effect when repeated to the Duchess, and may serve us 

 both." 



" Thank you for the suggestion, Henry, which shall be acted 

 apon without delay." 



The other great attraction of the evening to the unmarried 

 ladies was Lady Arnmore's brother, the ricli and fastidious 

 Marquis of Ayrshire, now in his thirty-fifth year, on whom the 

 smiles of the fail' sex had been hitherto completely thrown 

 away. He was, although not handsome, most distinguished in 

 appearance, and highly polished in manners, with a literary 

 turn of mind. Being master of several languages, and having 

 travelled over half the globe, he was well informed on most 

 subjects, and in conversation most agreeable. Possessing, in 

 addition to these recommendations, a princely fortune, he had 

 been for the last two seasons a grand speculation in the higher 

 circles. Although a great admirer of beauty, his requirements 

 in other respects were so multifarious that it seemed almost 

 impossible they could be realised in any one woman ; still he 

 was ever on the look-out for the person pictured in his mind's 

 eye as the future Marchioness of Ayrshire, and it was his 

 invariable custom to go the round of balls and parties of every 

 description, in the hope of finding at last the being whom his 

 fancy had portrayed. The form and features of every new 

 debutante in the fashionable world were eagerly scanned, and if 

 sufficiently attractive, an introduction was immediately ob- 

 tained through some one of his numerous acquaintances. On 



