George remained silent, standing gloomily at the window, looking on the approach, with its trimly-cut shrubs and spring flowers, blooming in conventional lines.  His mother had not received his information quite as he expected, and he felt for the moment utterly ‘down on his luck.’

’You have indeed ruined yourself with Gladys, and with any other girl who has any respect for herself,’ she said presently, with increased coldness, ‘and I must say you richly deserve it.’

So saying, she left the room, and as she went up-stairs, two tears rolled down her cheeks.  She was not a woman of very deep feelings, perhaps, but she had received a blow from which it would take her some time to recover.  She sat down in her own room, and tried to think out the matter in all its bearings.  She felt glad that her husband and daughter were not to dine at home, for after the first shock was over, worldly wisdom began to assert itself, and she pondered upon the best means of avoiding the scandal which appeared inevitable.  She was not very hopeful.  Had Gladys been an ordinary girl, entertaining less exalted ideas of honour and integrity, everything might have been smoothed over.  Women, as a rule, are too lenient towards the follies of men, especially when the offenders are young and handsome; but Gladys was an exception to almost every rule.  The only chance lay in the knowledge being kept from her, yet how was that possible, Liz Hepburn being at that very moment an invited guest at Bourhill?  She made some little alteration in her dress, and went down, perfectly calm, and outwardly at ease, to a tete-a-tete dinner with her son.  When they were left alone at the table she suddenly changed the subject from the commonplace to the engrossing theme occupying both their minds, and, leaning towards him, said quietly,—­

’There is only one thing you can do now.  It is your only chance, and if it fails, you can only retire gracefully, and accept your conge as your deserts.’

‘I don’t know what you mean,’ he retorted a trifle ungraciously, for in his intense selfishness he had been able to convince himself that his mother had been rather hard upon him.

’I would advise you to go over to the Crescent to-night and see Gladys, and tell her what you have heard.  Let her understand—­as gently and nicely as you can, but be quite firm over it—­that you, as her future husband, have some right to express an opinion about the people she makes friends of.  You can lay stress on her own youth and ignorance, and don’t be dictatorial.  Do you understand me?’

‘Yes, but it won’t be an easy task,’ he said gloomily.

’No, but it’s your only chance—­a very forlorn hope, I confess, it appears to me; but you can’t afford to neglect it if you want to win Gladys, and it would be a most desirable marriage.’