"I will do as you wish, Lance," said my lady, and her son smiled.
"Though I consider myself, and am, in all solemn truth, engaged, still that does not make me a slave, mother. I am free to do as I like."
"Certainly," said my lady, and for some minutes there was silence between them.
Lord Chandos broke in.
"Why do you never ask Lady Erskine to visit you, mother? She is a charming girl, and you like her."
The countess looked at him straight in the face.
"I think it more prudent not to do so," she said. "Lady Marion is one of the most perfect women I know; I know, too, that she admires you, and as you are not free to admire her, you are better apart."
He flung himself down on the carpet, and laid his handsome head on his mother's knee, looking up to her with coaxing eyes, as he had done when he was a boy.
"Does she really admire me, mother? This beautiful girl, who has all the grandees in Rome at her feet—does she really admire me?"
"I have said it," laughed my lady.