'What has he on his mind?' she continued, smiling.

'Some idealistic project. He has only given me a hint. I dare say we
shall hear all about it to-night.'





CHAPTER II

THE IDEALIST




When Egremont began his acquaintance with the Newthorpes he was an
Oxford undergraduate. A close friendship had sprung up between him
and a young man named Ormonde, and at the latter's home he met Mr.
Newthorpe, who, from the first, regarded him with interest. A year
after Mrs. Newthorpe's death Egremont was invited to visit the house
at Ullswater; since then he had twice spent a week there. This
personal intercourse was slight to have resulted in so much
intimacy, but he had kept up a frequent correspondence with Mr.
Newthorpe from various parts of the world, and common friends aided
the stability of the relation.

He was the only son of a man who had made a fortune by the
manufacture of oil-cloth. His father began life as a house-painter,
then became an oil merchant in a small way, and at length married a