LORD AYRSHIRE'S OPINION OF BLANCHE. 3Gl 



working on old Harcourt's timidity, thinks to frighten him into 

 terms. Evidently he has the thing in his own hands, and this 

 young Donglas is a nonentity — that's my opinion, Ayrshire." 



"Not unlikely, Bayntun — then what do you think the 

 fellow would take for his chance ? would thirty thousand 

 pounds choke him off 1 " 



" At once, I should say, or perhaps less money, if he had a 

 proper man to deal with." 



"Well, Bayntun, as you know how to deal with these 

 sharks, will you undertake to negotiate with them ? " 



" For whom 1 " inquired Lord Henry, with some surprise. 



" Myself, Bayntun ; for the fact is, I had an interview with 

 Harcourt this morning, and I have signed an agreement to 

 take all responsibility in this suit off his shoulders, and he has 

 agreed I shall marry his ward." 



" The deuce you have ! why, that beats some of our little 

 transactions on the turf all to nothing." 



" Oh, it's all fair, Bayntun, and above-board — a quid pro 

 quo — and you must allow I have, as far as money is concerned, 

 the worst of the bargain." 



" Egad, I'm not so sure of that, my dear fellow — the odds are 

 greatly in your favour, and if you are obliged to give Mangle 

 thirty thousand, you still clear an immense stake — it is a 

 capital investment." 



" Well, Bayntun, that may be the case or not ; but although 

 it did enter into my calculation to compromise with, or buy off, 

 this pretender, yet the fact is, that this girl is precisely the person 

 I have been looking out for a long time, to sit at the head of 

 my table. She is well-bred, highly connected, of graceful and 

 dignified deportment, a perfect lady in manners, and has passed 

 through the ordeal of her first season in town without affecta- 

 tion of any kind, although so generally admired, and without 

 exhibiting the least disposition to flirtation. I have watched 

 her narrowly, Bayntun, and never could detect the slightest 

 approach to levity in her conduct since the night of our first 

 acquaintance ; and the manner in which she has so quietly 

 repulsed any too familiar advances from those puppies, who 

 have been so constantly trying to ingratiate themselves into 

 her favour, has excited my strongest admiration. In short, 

 Bayntun, she is one in a thousand, and last, though not least in 

 the opinion of most men, her features and form are perfection." 



" I cannot gainsay a word you have spoken, Ayrshire, in 

 regard to Miss Douglas j and if you obtain her fortune, or hs^f 



