Poor Susan indeed had suffered terribly in the death of her eldest son.
But the handsomer and abler of the two brothers still remained to
her--and the estate was safe. Lady Grosville thought of her own three
daughters, plain and almost dowerless; and of that conceited young man,
the heir, whom she could hardly persuade her husband to invite, once a
year, for appearance sake.

"Why are we so early?" said Ashe, looking at his watch. "I thought I
should be disgracefully late."

For he and Lady Grosville had the library to themselves. It was a fine,
book-walled room, with giallo antico columns and Adam decoration; and in
its richly colored lamp-lit space, the seated figure--stiffly erect--of
Lady Grosville, her profile, said by some to be like a horse and by
others to resemble Savonarola, the cap of old Venice point that crowned
her grizzled hair, her black velvet dress, and the long-fingered, ugly,
yet distinguished hands which lay upon her lap, told significantly;
especially when contrasted with the negligent ease and fresh-colored
youth of her companion.

Grosville Park was rich in second-rate antiques; and there was a
Greco-Roman head above the bookcase with which Ashe had been often
compared. As he stood now leaning against the fireplace, the close-piled
curls, and eyes--somewhat "à fleur de tête"--of the bust were
undoubtedly repeated with some closeness in the living man. Those whom
he had offended by some social carelessness or other said of him when
they wished to run him down, that he was "floridly" handsome; and there
was some truth in it.

"Didn't you get the message about dinner?" said Lady Grosville. Then, as