Arabella represented the aristocratic type, and Lilla that of the
commonalty.

When the dusk began to thicken, Mr. Salton and Sir Nathaniel walked
home--the trap had been sent away early in the day--leaving Adam to
follow in his own time. He came in earlier than was expected, and seemed
upset about something. Neither of the elders made any comment. They all
lit cigarettes, and, as dinner-time was close at hand, went to their
rooms to get ready.

Adam had evidently been thinking in the interval. He joined the others
in the drawing-room, looking ruffled and impatient--a condition of things
seen for the first time. The others, with the patience--or the
experience--of age, trusted to time to unfold and explain things. They
had not long to wait. After sitting down and standing up several times,
Adam suddenly burst out.

"That fellow seems to think he owns the earth. Can't he let people
alone! He seems to think that he has only to throw his handkerchief to
any woman, and be her master."

This outburst was in itself enlightening. Only thwarted affection in
some guise could produce this feeling in an amiable young man. Sir
Nathaniel, as an old diplomatist, had a way of understanding, as if by
foreknowledge, the true inwardness of things, and asked suddenly, but in
a matter-of-fact, indifferent voice:

"Was he after Lilla?"

"Yes, and the fellow didn't lose any time either. Almost as soon as they