air of anxiety--"we might perhaps mutually help each other."

"Help each other?"

"Dear Mrs. Talbot," says Dynecourt softly, "has it never occurred to you
how safe a thing it would be for my cousin Sir Adrian to marry a
sensible woman--a woman who understands the world and its ways--a woman
young and beautiful certainly, but yet conversant with the _convénances_
of society? Such a woman would rescue Adrian from the shoals and
quicksands that surround him in the form of mercenary friends and
scheming mothers. Such a woman might surely be found. Nay, I think
I myself could put my hand upon her, if I dared, at this moment."

Mrs. Talbot trembles slightly, and blushes a good deal, but says nothing.

"He is my nearest of kin," goes on Dynecourt, in the same low impassive
voice. "Naturally I am interested in him, and my interest on this point
is surely without motive; as, were he never to marry, were he to leave
no heir, were he to die some sudden death"--here a remarkable change
overspreads his features--"I should inherit all the land you see around
you, and the title besides."

Mrs. Talbot is still silent. She merely bows her head in assent.

"Then, you see, I mean kindly toward him when I suggest that he should
marry some one calculated to sustain his rank in the world," continues
Dynecourt. "As I have said before, I know one who would fill the
position charmingly, if she would deign to do so."

"And who?" falters Dora Talbot nervously.