And Lydia Herbert herself was privately quite aware of his views.

Moreover she was entirely willing to accommodate herself to them for the sake of riches and a luxurious life, and the "settlement" she meant to insist upon if her plans ripened to fulfilment.

She had no great ambitions; few women of her social class have.

To be well housed, well fed and well clothed, and enabled to do the fashionable round without hindrance--this was all she sought, and of romance, sentiment, emotion or idealism she had none.

Now and again she caught the flash of a thought in her brain higher than the level of material needs, but dismissed it more quickly than it came as--"Ridiculous! Absolute nonsense! Like Morgana!" And to be like Morgana, meant to be like what cynics designate "an impossible woman,"-- independent of opinions and therefore "not understood of the people.".