The Baronet

It can easily be guessed that Random's somewhat colorless personality
would never attract Lucy Kendal, since the hues of her own character
were deeper. For this reason she was drawn to Hope, who possessed that
aggressive artistic temperament, where good and bad, are in violent
contrast. Random took opinions from books, or from other people, and
his mind, like a looking-glass, reflected whatever came along; but Hope
possessed opinions of his own, both right and wrong, and held to these
in the face of all verbal opposition. He could argue and did argue, when
Random simply agreed. Lucy had similar idiosyncrasies, inherited from
a clever father, so it was just as well that she preferred Archie
to Frank. Had the latter young gentleman married her, he would have
dwindled to Lady Random's husband, and would have found too late that he
had domesticated a kind of imitation George Eliot. When he congratulated
Archie on his engagement somewhat ruefully, he little thought what an
escape he had had.

But Professor Braddock, who did not belong to the gray tribe, knew
nothing of this, as his Egyptological studies did not permit him time to
argue on such commonplace matters. He therefore failed in advance when
he set out to persuade Random into renewing his suit. As the fiery
little man afterwards expressed himself, "I might as well have talked to
a mollusc," for Random politely declined to be used as an instrument
to forward the Professor's ambition at the cost of Miss Kendal's
unhappiness. The interview took place in Sir Frank's quarters at the
Fort on the day after Hervey had called to propose a search for the
corpse. And it was during this interview that Braddock learned something
which both startled and annoyed him.