That same evening Lord Chandos and Sir Frank Euston talked long together.
"Of course," said Sir Frank, "if you put me on my honor, I cannot speak, but I beg of you to stop and think."
Lord Chandos laughed; his handsome face was flushed and eager.
"The man who hesitates is lost," he said. "All the thinking in the world cannot alter matters, nor make me love my darling less."
"There is an old proverb I should like to recommend to you," said Sir Frank Euston; "it is this—a young man married is a young man marred."
"I am quite as willing to be marred as to be married," said the young lord, "and married I will be if all the powers on earth conspire against me."
"I know how useless all arguments are," said his friend, "when a man determines to be foolish; but do think for one moment of the terrible disappointment to your parents."
"I do not see it; they have no right to be disappointed; my father married to please himself, why should I not do the same?"
"You are outraging all the laws of your class," said Sir Frank. "However beautiful a farmer's niece may be, we cannot suppose even a miracle could fit her to take the place of the Countess of Lanswell."
A hot flush came over the young lord's face; a strange quiet came into his voice.