lieutenant in a cavalry regiment,--a fine handsome youth of five and
twenty, with the Neville eyes and Neville finely cut features. Kindly
letters passed between the widowed mother and the present Lady Scroope;
and it was decided at last, at his own request, that he should remain
one year longer in the army, and then be installed as the eldest son at
Scroope Manor. Again the lawyer was told to do what was proper in regard
to money.

A few words more must be said of Lady Scroope, and then the preface to
our story will be over. She too was an Earl's daughter, and had been
much loved by our Earl's first wife. Lady Scroope had been the elder by
ten years; but yet they had been dear friends, and Lady Mary Wycombe had
passed many months of her early life amidst the gloom of the great rooms
at Scroope Manor. She had thus known the Earl well before she consented
to marry him. She had never possessed beauty,--and hardly grace. She was
strong featured, tall, with pride clearly written in her face. A reader
of faces would have declared at once that she was proud of the blood
which ran in her veins. She was very proud of her blood, and did in
truth believe that noble birth was a greater gift than any wealth. She
was thoroughly able to look down upon a parvenu millionaire,--to look
down upon such a one and not to pretend to despise him. When the Earl's
letter came to her asking her to share his gloom, she was as poor as
Charity,--dependent on a poor brother who hated the burden of such
claim. But she would have wedded no commoner, let his wealth and age
have been as they might. She knew Lord Scroope's age, and she knew the
gloom of Scroope Manor;--and she became his wife. To her of course was
told the story of the heir's marriage, and she knew that she could
expect no light, no joy in the old house from the scions of the rising
family. But now all this was changed, and it might be that she could
take the new heir to her heart.