As they drove home, Lady Hampton gazed at her niece with a look of triumph.
"You have a splendid chance, Elinor," she said; "no girl ever had a better. What do you think of Darrell Court?"
"It is a palace, aunt—a magnificent, stately palace. I have never seen anything like it before."
"It may be yours if you play your cards well, my dear."
"How?" cried the girl. "I thought it was to be Miss Darrell's. Every one says she is her uncle's heiress."
"People need not make too sure of it. I do not think so. With a little management, Sir Oswald will propose to you, I am convinced."
The girl's face fell.
"But, aunt, he is so old."
"He is only just fifty, Elinor. No girl in her senses would ever call that old. It is just the prime of life."
"I like Captain Langton so much the better," she murmured.