A certain thing became evident to Betty during the time which elapsed between the arrival of the invitations and the great ball.Despite an obvious intention to assume an amiable pose for the time being, Sir Nigel could not conceal a not quite unexplainable antipathy to one individual.This individual was Mount Dunstan, whom it did not seem easy for him to leave alone.He seemed to recur to him as a subject, without any special reason, and this somewhat puzzled Betty until she heard from Rosalie of his intimacy with Lord Tenham, which, in a measure, explained it.The whole truth was that "The Lout," as he had been called, had indulged in frank speech in his rare intercourse with his brother and his friends, and had once interfered with hot young fury in a matter in which the pair had specially wished to avoid all interference.His open scorn of their methods of entertaining themselves they had felt to be disgusting impudence, which would have been deservedly punished with a horsewhip, if the youngster had not been a big-muscled, clumsy oaf, with a dangerous eye.Upon this footing their acquaintance had stood in past years, and to decide--as Sir Nigel had decided--that the oaf in question had begun to make his bid for splendid fortune under the roof of Stornham Court itself was a thing not to be regarded calmly.It was more than he could stand, and the folly of temper, which was forever his undoing, betrayed him into mistakes more than once.This girl, with her beauty and her wealth, he chose to regard as a sort of property rightfully his own.She was his sister-in-law, at least;she was living under his roof; he had more or less the power to encourage or discourage such aspirants as appeared.Upon the whole there was something soothing to one's vanity in appearing before the world as the person at present responsible for her.It gave a man a certain dignity of position, and his chief girding at fate had always risen from the fact that he had not had dignity of position.He would not be held cheap in this matter, at least.But sometimes, as he looked at the girl he turned hot and sick, as it was driven home to him that he was no longer young, that he had never been good-looking, and that he had cut the ground from under his feet twelve years ago, when he had married Rosalie! If he could have waited--if he could have done several other things--perhaps the clever acting of a part, and his power of domination might have given him a chance.Even that blackguard of a Mount Dunstan had a better one now.He was young, at least, and free--and a big strong beast.He was forced, with bitter reluctance, to admit that he himself was not even particularly strong--of late he had felt it hideously.
So he detested Mount Dunstan the more for increasing reasons, as he thought the matter over.It would seem, perhaps, but a subtle pleasure to the normal mind, but to him there was pleasure--support--aggrandisement--in referring to the ill case of the Mount Dunstan estate, in relating illustrative anecdotes, in dwelling upon the hopelessness of the outlook, and the notable unpopularity of the man himself.Aconfiding young lady from the States was required, he said on one occasion, but it would be necessary that she should be a young person of much simplicity, who would not be alarmed or chilled by the obvious.No one would realise this more clearly than Mount Dunstan himself.He said it coldly and casually, as if it were the simplest matter of fact.If the fellow had been making himself agreeable to Betty, it was as well that certain points should be--as it were inadvertently --brought before her.
Miss Vanderpoel was really rather fine, people said to each other afterwards, when she entered the ballroom at Dunholm Castle with her brother-in-law.She bore herself as composedly as if she had been escorted by the most admirable and dignified of conservative relatives, instead of by a man who was more definitely disliked and disapproved of than any other man in the county whom decent people were likely to meet.
Yet, she was far too clever a girl not to realise the situation clearly, they said to each other.She had arrived in England to find her sister a neglected wreck, her fortune squandered, and her existence stripped bare of even such things as one felt to be the mere decencies.There was but one thing to be deduced from the facts which had stared her in the face.But of her deductions she had said nothing whatever, which was, of course, remarkable in a young person.It may be mentioned that, perhaps, there had been those who would not have been reluctant to hear what she must have had to say, and who had even possibly given her a delicate lead.But the lead had never been taken.One lady had even remarked that, on her part, she felt that a too great reserve verged upon secretiveness, which was not a desirable girlish quality.
Of course the situation had been so much discussed that people were naturally on the lookout for the arrival of the Stornham party, as it was known that Sir Nigel had returned home, and would be likely to present himself with his wife and sister-in-law.There was not a dowager present who did not know how and where he had reprehensibly spent the last months.It served him quite right that the Spanish dancing person had coolly left him in the lurch for a younger and more attractive, as well as a richer man.If it were not for Miss Vanderpoel, one need not pretend that one knew nothing about the affair--in fact, if it had not been for Miss Vanderpoel, he would not have received an invitation--and poor Lady Anstruthers would be sitting at home, still the forlorn little frump and invalid she had so wonderfully ceased to be since her sister had taken her in hand.She was absolutely growing even pretty and young, and her clothes were really beautiful.The whole thing was amazing.