"I have been an idle fellow and am not at all learned," he said.

"Tristram and I were at Eton together in the same house, and we were both dunces; but he did rather well at Oxford, and I went straight into the Guards." Zara longed to ask about Tristram.

She had not even heard before that he had been to Oxford! And it struck her suddenly how ridiculous the whole thing was.

She had sold herself for a bargain; she had asked no questions of any one; she had intended to despise the whole family and remain entirely aloof; and now she found every one of her intentions being gradually upset.

But as yet she did not admit for a second to herself that she was falling in love.