he had made up his mind he would not descend to questions or details--he
would find all out later for himself--but one thing he must know: had
she really consented to marry him? If so, she had her own reasons, of
course, and desire for himself was not among them; but, somehow, he felt
sure they were not sordid or paltry ones. He had always liked dangerous
games--the most unbroken polo ponies to train in the country, the
freshest horses, the fiercest beasts to stalk and kill--and why not a
difficult wife? It would add an adorable spice to the affair. But as he
was very honest with himself he knew, underneath, that it was not wholly
even this instinct, but that she had cast some spell over him and that
he must have her for his own.

"You might very well ask her history," Francis Markrute said. He could
be so gracious when he liked, and he really admired the wholehearted
dash with which Lord Tancred had surrendered; there was something big
and royal about it--he himself never gambled in small sums either. "So
as I expect you won't," he continued, "I will tell you. She is the
daughter of Maurice Grey, a brother of old Colonel Grey of Hentingdon,
whom everybody knew, and she has been the widow of an unspeakable brute
for over a year. She was an immaculate wife, and devoted daughter before
that. The possibilities of her temperament are all to come."

Lord Tancred sprang from his chair, the very thought of her and her
temperament made him thrill. Was it possible he was already in love,
after one evening?

"Now we must really discuss affairs, my dear boy," the financier went
on. "Her dower, as I told you, will be princely."

"That I absolutely refuse to do, Francis," Lord Tancred answered. "I