“One must take one’s chances!” he said.

“You are a philosopher,” Arranmore declared.  “Will you have some tea—­or a whisky-and-soda?”

“Neither, thanks.  In an abortive attempt to preserve my youth I neither take tea nor drinks between meals.  I will have one of your excellent cigarettes and get round to the club.  Why, this is Enton over again, for here comes Molyneux.”

The Hon. Sydney Molyneux shook hands with both of them in somewhat dreary fashion, and embarked upon a few disjointed remarks.  Hennibul took his leave, and Arranmore yawned openly.

“What is the matter with you, Sydney?” he asked.  “You are duller than ever.  I am positively not going to sit here and mumble about the weather.  How are the Carooms?  Have you heard from them lately?”

“They are up in Yorkshire,” Molyneux announced, “staying with the Pryce-Powells.  I believe they’re all right.  I’m beastly fit myself, but I had a bit of a facer last week.  I—­er—­I wanted to ask you a question.

“Well?”

“About that fellow Brooks I met at your place down at Enton.  Lawyer at Medchester, isn’t he?  I thought that he and Sybil seemed a bit thick somehow.  Don’t suppose there could have been anything in it, eh?  He’s no one in particular, I suppose.  Lady Caroom wouldn’t be likely to listen to anything between Sybil and him?”

Arranmore raised his eyebrows.

“Brooks is a very intelligent young man,” he said, “and some girls are attracted by brains, you know.  I don’t know anything about his relations with Sybil Caroom, but he has ample private means, and I believe that he is well-born.”

“Fellow’s a gentleman, of course,” Molyneux declared, “but Lady Caroom is a little ambitious, isn’t she?  I always seemed to be in the running all right lately.  I spent last Sunday with them at Chelsom Castle.  Awful long way to go, but I’m fond of Sybil.  I thought she was a bit cool to me, but, like a fool, I blundered on, and in the end—­I got a facer.”

“Very sorry for you,” Arranmore yawned.

“What made me think about Brooks was that she was awfully decent to me before Enton,” Molyneux continued.  “I don’t mind telling you that I’m hard hit.  I want to know who Brooks is.  If he’s only a country lawyer, he’s got no earthly chance with Lady Caroom, and Sybil’d never go against her mother.  They’re too great pals for that.  Never saw them so thick.”

“Was Lady Caroom—­quite well?” Arranmore asked, irrelevantly.

“Well, now you mention it,” Molyneux said, “I don’t think she was quite in her usual form.  She was much quieter, and it struck me that she was aging a bit.  Wonderful woman, though.  She and Sybil were quite inseparable at Chelsom—­more like sisters than anything, ’pon my word.”

Lord Arranmore looked into the fire, and was silent for several minutes.

“So far as regards Brooks,” he said, “I do not think that he would be an acceptable son-in-law to Lady Caroom, but I am not in the least sure.  He is by no means an insignificant person.  If he were really anxious to marry Sybil Caroom, he would be a rival worth consideration.  I cannot tell you anything more.”