Ravenshoe. By Henry Kingsley.

368 RAVENSHOE.
call a great rascal. Yes; I told him so, you know. And I am
not a fighting man, and that proves that I was strongly convinced
of the fact, or I should have shirked my duty. A man in my position don't like to go down to the House of Lords with a black
eye. But I doubt if he is capable of any deep villany yet. If
you were to say to me that Charles would be unwise to allow Ascot's wife to make his gruel for him, I should say that I agreed
with you."
"There you are certainly right, my lord," said John Marston,
smiling. "But I never knew Lord Ascot spare either man or
woman."
"That is very true," said Lord Hainault. "Do you notice
that we have been speaking as if Charles Ravenshoe were not
dead? "
" I don't believe he is," said John Marston.
"Nor I, do you know," said Lord Hainault; "at least only
half. What a pair of ninnies we are. Only ninety men of the
140th came out of that Balaclava charge. If he escaped the
cholera, the chances are in favor of his having been killed
there."
"What evidence have we that he enlisted in that regiment at
all?"
" Lady Hainault's and Mary's description of his uniform, which
they never distinctly saw for one moment," said Lord Hainault.
"Voila tout."
"And you would not speak to Lord Saltire?"
"Why, no. He sees all that we see. If he comes back, he
gets eighty thousand pounds. It would not do either for you or
me to press him to alter his will. Do you see?"
"I suppose you are right, Lord Hainault. Things cannot go
very wrong either way. I hope Mary will not fall in love with
that cousin of hers," he added, with a laugh.
"Are you wise in persevering, do you think?" said Lord
Hainault, kindly.
" I will tell you in a couple of days," said John Marston. "Is
there any chance of seeing that best of fellows, William Ravenshoe, here?"
"He may come tumbling up. He has put off his wedding in
consequence of the death of his half-brother. I wonder if he
was humbugged at Varna."
"Nothing more likely," said Marston. " Where is Lord Welter?"
"In Paris, - plucking geese."
Just about this time all the various groups in the drawing-room
seemed to come to the conclusion that a time had arrived for new
combinations, to avoid remarks. So there was a regular puss-in