Sit down, and let us talk this thing out." * * * * * The conversation thus started, however, was only begun by dinner-time; was resumed after Miss Raeburn--the small, shrewd, bright-eyed person who governed Lord Maxwell's household--had withdrawn; and was continued in the library some time beyond his lordship's usual retiring hour.

It was for the most part a monologue on the part of the grandfather, broken by occasional words from his companion; and for some time Marcella Boyce herself--the woman whom Aldous desired to marry--was hardly mentioned in it.

Oppressed and tormented by a surprise which struck, or seemed to strike, at some of his most cherished ideals and just resentments, Lord Maxwell was bent upon letting his grandson know, in all their fulness, the reasons why no daughter of Richard Boyce could ever be, in the true sense, fit wife for a Raeburn.
Aldous was, of course, perfectly familiar with the creed implied in it all.

A Maxwell should give himself no airs whatever, should indeed feel no pride whatever, towards "men of goodwill," whether peasant, professional, or noble.

Such airs or such feeling would be both vulgar and unchristian.