deed conventionality had small interest for her. It was hardly wonderful
that Lord Rosmore should pronounce her adorable, or that Judge Marriott
should forget that his youth was a thing of the past. Indeed, she had
come as a revelation to the men whose lives were made up of Court
intrigue and artificiality.

Perhaps another reason why Barbara Lanison found it difficult to
understand the sensation she created lay in the fact that her heart and
affections remained entirely untouched. Those blue eyes, underneath
their long lashes, saw very keenly, and gave her a quick insight into
character. She was not to be easily led, and if she did a good many
things in her aunt's house, where she was a guest, which did not come
naturally to her and which did not please her, there was a point beyond
which no persuasion on Lady Bolsover's part could make her go. Much
against her will she had been taken to the trial of the highwayman, and
that she was ashamed of being there was shown by her eager desire to
explain her presence to the man who had come to her rescue in the crowd.
It would probably have annoyed Lady Bolsover considerably had she known
that her niece thought more of this man during the next few days than of
all the eligible gallants who had been brought to her notice.

If in one sense Lady Bolsover had to admit failure with regard to her
plans concerning her niece, in another direction she had achieved
considerable success, for since the advent of Barbara Lanison her own
favour had been courted on all sides, and her house in St. James's
Square had become a little Court in itself. To half a dozen men who had
flattered her sufficiently as a first step towards her good graces, she
had promised to do her best with her niece on their behalf, and at
intervals she dispensed encouragements for which no action or private
word of Barbara's gave any foundation. Lady Bolsover found her present