uncle's suave presence, the young man's manner always became more
expressive and his face more inscrutable.

Lord Selsey was remarkably handsome; the even profile, well-shaped head,
and blond colouring were much the same in uncle and nephew, the uncle's
face having, perhaps, a more idealistic cast. The twenty years'
difference in age had only given the elder man a finer, fairer, more
faded look, and the smooth light hair, still thick, was growing grey.


Cecil was not surprised to find his uncle sitting in his smoking-room,
smoking, and not reading the morning paper. He was looking over his
collection of old coins. At a glance he saw by Cecil's excessive
quietness that the boy, as he called him, was perturbed, so he talked
about the coins for some minutes.

Cecil made little attempt to conceal that fact that Things bored him.

'Well, what is it?' said Lord Selsey abruptly.

Cecil couldn't think of anything better by way of introducing the
trouble than the vaguely pessimistic statement that everything was
rather rotten.

'You don't gamble, you're not even very hard up.... It's a woman, of
course,' said Lord Selsey, 'and you want to marry, I suppose, or you
wouldn't come to me about it.... Who is she?'

Cecil gave a rough yet iridescent sketch of Mrs Raymond.