judgment is so poor that I can respect a worthless man.'

'You _are_ a very foolish girl,' answered Lady Maulevrier, more kindly
than she had spoken before, 'but you have been very good and dutiful to
me since I have been ill, and I don't wish to forget that. I never said
that Mr. Hammond was worthless; but I say that he is no fit husband for
you. If you were as yielding and obedient as Lesbia it would be all the
better for you; for then I should provide for your establishment in life
in a becoming manner. But as you are wilful, and bent upon taking your
own way--well--my dear, you must take the consequence; and when you are
a struggling wife and mother, old before your time, weighed down with
the weary burden of petty cares, do not say, "My grandmother might have
saved me from this martyrdom."'

'I will run the risk, grandmother. I will be answerable for my own
fate.'

'So be it, Mary. And now send Maulevrier to me.'

Mary went down to the billiard room, where she found her brother and her
lover engaged in a hundred game.

'Take my cue and beat him if you can, Molly,' said Maulevrier, when he
had heard Mary's message. 'I'm fifteen ahead of him, for he has been
falling asleep over his shots. I suppose I am going to get a lecture.'

'I don't think so,' said Mary.

'Well, my dearest, how did you fare in the encounter?' asked Hammond,
directly Maulevrier was gone.