“But, my dear Dale, I must mention it at the present moment.  Dear young child, I would do anything to comfort her!  And I hope that something may be done to comfort her.  Do you know that that young man was in love with her long before Crosbie ever saw her?”

“What;—­John Eames!”

“Yes, John Eames.  And I wish heartily for his sake that he had won her regard before she had met that rascal whom you had to stay down at your house.”

“A man cannot help these things, De Guest,” said the squire.

“No, no, no!  There are such men about the world, and it is impossible to know them at a glance.  He was my nephew’s friend, and I am not going to say that my nephew was in fault.  But I wish,—­I only say that I wish,—­she had first known what are this young man’s feelings towards her.”

“But she might not have thought of him as you do.”

“He is an uncommonly good-looking young fellow; straight made, broad in the chest, with a good, honest eye, and a young man’s proper courage.  He has never been taught to give himself airs like a dancing monkey; but I think he’s all the better for that.”

“But it’s too late now, De Guest.”

“No, no; that’s just where it is.  It mustn’t be too late!  That child is not to lose her whole life because a villain has played her false.  Of course she’ll suffer.  Just at present it wouldn’t do, I suppose, to talk to her about a new sweetheart.  But, Dale, the time will come; the time will come;—­the time always does come.”

“It has never come to you and me,” said the squire, with the slightest possible smile on his dry cheeks.  The story of their lives had been so far the same; each had loved, and each had been disappointed, and then each had remained single through life.

“Yes, it has,” said the earl, with no slight touch of feeling and even of romance in what he said.  “We have retricked our beams in our own ways, and our lives have not been desolate.  But for her,—­you and her mother will look forward to see her married some day.”

“I have not thought about it.”

“But I want you to think about it.  I want to interest you in this fellow’s favour; and in doing so, I mean to be very open with you.  I suppose you’ll give her something?”

“I don’t know, I’m sure,” said the squire almost offended at an inquiry of such a nature.

“Well, then, whether you do or not, I’ll give him something,” said the earl.  “I shouldn’t have ventured to meddle in the matter had I not intended to put myself in such a position with reference to him as would justify me in asking the question.”  And the peer as he spoke drew himself up to his full height.  “If such a match can be made, it shall not be a bad marriage for your niece in a pecuniary point of view.  I shall have pleasure in giving to him; but I shall have more pleasure if she can share what I give.”

“She ought to be very much obliged to you,” said the squire.