so that is no argument. But, as I say, one knows that gentlemen frequently have little matters of business about which one knows nothing, and I have not the least wish to pry or seem inquisitive. But all this is beside the point. Tell me about this question of dear little Zella."
"Zella is very well. She has been riding her new mare, which she enjoys."
"Louis, this is all very well," said Mrs. Lloyd-Evans with great earnestness, and once more stopping short in the middle of the way. "But what will riding a new mare lead to, I should like to know, with a girl of Zella's age, and no mother to see to these things?"
"Do you mean you think it is too much for her?" asked the astounded Louis.
"On the contrary, I mean that it is not enough—in fact, it is of no use at all. Zella ought to meet other young people, make friends of her own age, and, in fact, see a little of the world. You would like to see her settled, after all, Louis."
Mrs. Lloyd-Evans belonged to the class of women to whom "settled " is synonymous with "married."
Louis became conscious of this, and temporized feebly.
"I see what you mean."
"One knows that a happy marriage means everything to a girl, once she has really found her mate; and in Zella's case that ought to be done easily," said Mrs. Lloyd-Evans with a kind smile, and evidently under the impression that she was saying something complimentary.
"I disagree with you there. The higher the type, mentally and morally, the more restricted selection becomes, and in Zella's case the question of cosmopolitanism complicates matters. There is small chance of affinity between the complex Anglo-Gallic organism"
"My dear Louis!" interrupted his sister-in-law in a tone which admirably expressed her firmly unuttered "do not talk nonsense."
"Zella has been given a pretty face, and, what I always think is so much more important, is a good, nicely brought-up girl, and any man ought to be pleased and proud to win her. Besides which, it is nonsense to deny that money does smooth the way in many cases, and Zella's fortune"
"Zella has nothing but what I choose to give her," said Louis coolly.
"Of course not, at present. The heir, so long as he is a child, different in nothing from a servant, as I always say," said Mrs. Lloyd-Evans hastily, and in her agitation attributing the Apostle's wisdom to herself.
"But you are not going to pretend, Louis, to me, dear Esmée's only sister, and whom you know so well, that Zella will not inherit Villetswood—at some far, far distant date, of course," she added, apparently with a sense that an emphasis on the remoteness of the date might serve to secure Zella's inheritance.
But Louis continued to remain unaccountably cryptic.
"Zella is, of course, my natural heiress, but Villetswood is entirely in my own hands, and I might sell it to-morrow. When she marries, or if she marries, a suitable provision will be made for her; but she is not to be looked upon as heiress to a property or anything else."
"Louis, you stagger me! said Mrs. Lloyd-Evans, walking faster than ever. "For once I really do not understand you, and you sound to me most callous and unnatural. Not that I want to hurt your feelings or to seem unkind."
Louis wondered rather grimly what adjectives Mrs. Lloyd-Evans would have selected had her desire been to wound.
"But this is beside the point," she resumed with renewed briskness of utterance.
"Zella is not even engaged, nor likely to be at this rate, which is what I really wanted to speak to you about."
"She is very young," said Louis dreamily. "Of course, in time, some suitable arrangement"
He was sufficiently of a Frenchman to feel that some suitable arrangement might well prove to be for his daughter's ultimate happiness.
Mrs. Lloyd-Evans disapprovingly formulated the thought into words.
"That is one of those very foreign ideas that one hoped was dying out," she observed rather severely. "A mariage de convenance can never be a success; and the idea of young people marrying without love is terrible. How can you even suggest it, Louis! The most important question any woman can ever be called upon to decide. . . ."
"To my mind that is a fallacy. The most important question differs for almost every one of us: why should it always be assumed that marriage must be the thing that really matters most? Only the privileged can say that marriage has been the one supreme fact in life; to most of us it is merely an incident."
The scandalized Mrs. Lloyd-Evans for once found herself positively deprived of utterance.
"The conventions forbid us to acknowledge it," observed Louis, apparently talking to the flowers in the Park, "but it is perfectly true."
"No one can be less conventional than I am, Louis, as you very well know; but when it comes to these terrible Continental ideas of Free Love and things, I—I have simply nothing to say."
She said it at considerable length, and concluded:
"And when all this is applied to an innocent child like Zella, one almost feels as though poor dear Esmée must rise from the grave, as it were."
The mention of Esmée's name succeeded in silencing Louis at once, and Mrs. Lloyd-Evans, with characteristic perseverance, returned to her original theme:
"Besides, one does want to see the child happily settled. Look at my Muriel—who could be happier? A devoted husband, a really thoroughly good man to take care of her, and a charming home of her very own."
Louis being a gentleman, Mrs. Lloyd-Evans refrained from mentioning Muriel's most recent cause for rejoicing, which would not for some months to come form part of that strictly limited multitude of things which may be freely talked about.
"I am glad she is so happy," said Louis gently.
"She is indeed, and I don't wonder it makes you wish Zella were the same. But she will enjoy a little gaiety this summer, and, after all, a girl must have her youth and a little fun before she settles down. But I do not advise a London season, Louis; indeed, it is almost too late to think of it this year. And, besides, that is not the thing."
Her mysterious emphasis almost hypnotized Louis.
"A country-house is really what one wants. Let a man see a girl in her own home, pouring out tea and doing little odd jobs in the house and garden—you know exactly the sort of thing I mean, and how one gets to know one another really well, staying in the same house, far better than just meeting at a dance or a dinner-party here and there."
"Yes, I suppose so," said the fascinated Louis, walking faster and faster to keep up with his sister-in-law's excited pace.
"I am very, very glad that we see it all in the same light, dear Louis, but you and I always understand one another. And a little house-party at Villetswood just about the end of July will be delightful. I don't know what you think about dates?"
With a sense of fatality, Louis resigned himself.
"You had better settle it all with Zella—and my sister, of course—since you are so kind, Marianne. I should like James to come down, you know."
"Thank
