"No, I didn't," said the Honourable Matt; "there ain't much management about it, that I can see. I said, 'Will you marry me?'--that's flat, I think,--and she said, 'Certainly not;' _that's_ flat, I think;--a perfect flounder, in my opinion."
"Well, well, it can't be helped," said Lady Gelston, with a glance at her son which might have meant that she had arrived at a comprehension of what a fool he really was. "There, go away, and let me get to bed. It's too bad; but there's no help for it. We must only try elsewhere." she continued, as if speaking to herself.
"Stop a bit, mother," interposed the Honourable Matt, without the least impatience or any change of expression, "I want to consult you about something. Don't you think what I particularly want is ready money--money that isn't tied up, I mean--not the entail business, don't you know, but the other thing?"
"I think you want money in any way and in any quantity in which it can be had," returned Lady Gelston impatiently. "How can you ask such foolish questions?"
"I'm not. I heard all about Nelly Baldwin's money to-night. Captain Carteret was talking about it to old Largs, and he's so deaf that the Captain had to roar all the particulars; and I'll tell you what, mother,--by Jove, I'll go in for Nelly."
Robert Meredith and George Ritherdon were to remain a week at the Deane. The three days which succeeded their arrival were passed in the ordinary pleasurable pursuits of a luxurious and hospitable country-house, and were unmarked by any events which made themselves at all conspicuous. Nevertheless they were days with a meaning, an epoch with a history, and their course included two incidents. The sisters had a quarrel, which they kept strictly to themselves; and George Ritherdon received a long letter, which he read with profound amazement, which he promptly destroyed, and concerning whose contents he said not a word to any one.
[CHAPTER VI.]
THE FIRST MOVES IN THE GAME.
Some time passed away, after the memorable fête which had celebrated the majority of Miss Meriton Baldwin of the Deane, during which, to an uninitiated observer, the aspect of affairs in that splendid and well-regulated mansion remained unchanged. County festivities took place; and the importance of the young ladies at the Deane was not a better established fact than their popularity.
With the comic seriousness which distinguished him, the Honourable Matthew Dort had "gone in for Nelly." He visited at the Deane with tranquil regularity, he played croquet imperturbably; only that he now watched Eleanor's balls, and was as confident she would "croquet" everybody as he had formerly been free from doubt about Gertrude's prowess; he rehearsed his speeches, and uttered them with entire self-possession. In due time he proposed to Eleanor, in the exact terms in which he had already done Gertrude that honour: and he was refused by her quite as definitively, but less politely than he had been refused by her sister. On this occasion also he went home to his mother, and related to her his defeat with a happy absence of embarrassment.