As he sat signing letters at the India Board, relieving himself when he was left alone between each batch by standing up with his back to the fire-place, his mind was full of all this.

He could not unravel truth quickly, but he could grasp it when it came to him.

She was certainly greedy, false, and dishonest.

And,--worse than all this,--she had dared to tell him to his face that he was a poor creature because he would not support her in her greed, and falsehoods, and dishonesty! Nevertheless, he was engaged to marry her! Then he thought of one Violet Effingham whom he had loved, and then came over him some suspicion of a fear that he himself was hard and selfish.

And yet what was such a one as he to do?
It was of course necessary for the maintenance of the very constitution of his country that there should be future Lord Fawns.