The afternoon following the race the Castle guests returned to town,
Lord Standon amongst them, and as that light-hearted gentleman departed
without making any formal proposal for the hand of his young ward, Lord
Barminster was greatly puzzled.

All that day he had watched Lady Constance with an unceasing vigilance,
of which, fortunately, she was unaware; but he could detect no traces of
affection in her intercourse with Lord Standon, nor could he find any
reason for his son's despair. Like a wise man, however, he made no
reference whatever to the conversation of the preceding night, for which
Adrien was exceedingly grateful, as he felt ashamed of having exposed
his real feelings, even to his father.

Instead, therefore, Lord Barminster endeavoured to find out the true
state of the case from his sister Penelope.

That lady, disturbed from her afternoon slumber, was inclined to be
testy. As far as she was concerned, she was very much against the idea
of Constance marrying any one, for the girl's presence saved her a great
deal of trouble in many ways; the consultations with the housekeeper,
the choosing of books, the writing of invitations, these and a hundred
other trifles which in the event of Constance's marriage would be
shifted back on to her own shoulders.

Naturally, therefore, she considered the suitor who would be less likely
to inconvenience her; and he, of course, was Adrien. For if he married
Constance, there would be, at least, some time during the year in which
she would be at Barminster, and leave Miss Penelope free to resume the
novel reading of which she was so inordinately fond. She scoffed,
therefore, at any likelihood of Lord Standon's suit, and flatly refused
to believe a word of it.