"Miss Pelham?"

"What would be the use of that?"

"Family interest."

"Too many sons in the way."

"Lady Adeliza Weymouth?"

Percy made a slight grimace.

"She is a year older than I am, and has a red nose; otherwise----"

"You had better think of it, at any rate," said the Earl, "and try if
she will have you. Depend upon it, a sensible marriage is the best thing
for you."

On which advice the son had dutifully acted. Fortune favoured him so far
as to give him opportunities of cultivating the good graces of Lady
Adeliza, and matters appeared to be going on prosperously. It seemed,
however, that either the gentleman found wooing in earnest to be a more
fatiguing business than he had anticipated, or he thought that a short
absence might increase the chances in his favour, for on the slightest
possible pretence of being sent out by Government he started off one day
for Canada.

Now, when Lord Lastingham had spoken so wisely about a sensible
marriage, he had been drawing lessons from his own experience. The late