rest. There was more to be done--her son had been presented at most of
the courts of Europe; he must attend the first levees held in London
this season.

The Carruthers had a magnificent mansion in Belgravia. Miss Hautville
begged for one year more of seclusion and privacy, so that Lady
Hildegarde and her son went to London alone. She remained there for a
week, and then, finding her son afloat in London society, she returned
to Ulverston.

And Basil Carruthers, the dreamy, ardent, romantic boy, remained in
London alone.




CHAPTER VII.

A Modern Bayard.


Perhaps Lady Carruthers never did a more unwise thing than when she left
her son, with his peculiar temperament and notions, to go through a
London season alone. She honestly believed herself to be doing right.
She was ill and unable to bear the whirl of fashion and gaiety. She
could not withdraw him from town to spend the gayest month of the year
in seclusion.

"Leave him to me, Hildegarde," said her cousin, Colonel Mostyn. "I will
pilot him safely through the rocks and deep waters; nothing makes a man