Marie Belloc Lowndes

“ He is unhappy, James. An unhappy love affair is such a blow to a young man's pride. In a way, I feel that he now sees that that girl would never have made him really happy——"
"You took her to your heart far too quickly," he said; not over-kindly. "I knew her at once for what she was—heartless, deceitful, painted-up young Jezebel——"
"Not heartless," said the Duchess, sighing. "If she'd been heartless, she'd be Robin's wife now, and we should be in a far worse way than we are."
"I can't think what started the lad on his farming scheme," said the Duke crossly. ”

“ The other girl remained silent. All truths, as the French so wisely put it, are not good to tell. It might be strange, but it was certainly true, that Molly Tiddlewin, though in a quiet way, an attractive girl, passed almost unnoticed in the shoddy, pleasure-loving, money-hunting section of society which was all that the enormously wealthy sugar king, Sir Joseph Tiddlewin, seemed able to procure for his adopted daughter.
In that sharp, acquisitive world, everyone knew that Hilda was his heiress, and Molly little more than Hilda's companion. ”

“ Look how beautiful that old castle looks against the skyline?"
"That's Settleham Castle. It belongs to the Duke of St. Andrews, one of the few dukes"—there came a bitter, scornful note in Hilda Tiddlewin's deep voice. "Uncle Joe has never been able to 'corner,' as he would put it. He thinks he has got most of the others in his pocket. After all, the only thing people of that sort care for, nowadays, is money, money, money! Even the young men think of nothing else."
"That isn't always true," said Molly mildly. ”

“ That's such a little thing to ask—isn't it, my poor darling?"
"Most mothers want a lot more than that," she said slowly.
In a rather shamefaced voice he muttered, "I, too, want Robin and Algy to be happy, Laura—though I know you think me an unnatural father. But I'm afraid, I'm very much afraid, my dear, that want must be our master——"
"Not if I can help it!" she cried with spirit.
After the Duchess had left the Duke's room, and while she was walking quickly towards her own quarters, a young footman passed her quickly. ”

“ He's always out at this time of the morning. But my mother—well, I suppose that like all mothers she's rather a fuss-pot where we're concerned, so she always wants to know where she can get at the doctor. So you see, Miss Tiddlewin, if not for your own sake, then for the sake of your poor cousin, please do what I wish. But if you really feel like—like that, I'll undertake that no one will know your name."
"I should so hate the Duke and Duchess to know who we are," said Hilda painfully.
"They won't know," he said confidently. "I can be as good a liar on occasion as anybody! ”

“ Besides, I've found love catching."
Then even Lord Algy was not going to be left to her? She got up from the chair on which she had been sitting.
"Perhaps it is with some people. I suppose that means that you've seen someone in London with whom you've fallen in love?"
And then Hilda Tiddlewin had the great surprise of her life. Indeed, nothing that can happen will ever surprise her as much. ”

“ After all, if one's to be quite honest, which I, at any rate, always try to be with you, my dearest, we must admit that it will be very, very pleasant to feel that Robin has chosen entirely, because he likes her, a girl who, if rumour is to be believed, is one of the greatest co-heiresses in England! ”

“ Hilda Tiddlewin, the girl at the wheel, turned to the cousin who played in her not altogether happy life the part of a really loving sister.
"I rather like going slowly, for a change."
"You're a little coward, Moll!"
Molly humbly told herself that this was true. She had a nervous horror of motoring fast—that is too fast.
"When we go at fifty miles an hour we can't see anything of the country. ”

“ Robin has fallen in love again! And I have been proved right, for once! It was not natural for even a very good, unselfish young man to be always drifting indoors, in order to sit by an invalid girl's side, instead of staying out of doors, doing all the things he used to do before he'd ever met her! ”

“ Uncle Joe called that mediaeval tyranny, and this is how he's tried to pay him off!"
"People say the Duchess of St. Andrews is such a dear," observed Molly.
She felt even more disgusted than was Hilda, at what—apart from what one could almost call an insult—was such a blot on the lovely landscape. Though Molly would not have used the word foul, for she had been brought up in a refined, old-fashioned home, and not at a fashionable girls' school, as had Hilda, who went on bitterly, "I'm not very old, yet there's hardly anything about the ugly side of human nature that I don't know ”

“ They wrote to each other every day—sometimes he wrote to her twice, just a few words scribbled on a little block he always carried in his coat pocket. Her letters were always written on big sheets, and to him they formed the pleasantest reading in the world, for she was one of those wise wives who never write disagreeable news. ”

“ Oh, why did I make her motor back with me to-day? She didn't really want to come. She would far rather have gone back to London by train."
Lord Ardvilly rose to his feet and looked down at the prone figure with a mixture of pity and slight repugnance. He was an old-fashioned, quiet, young man, and Hilda Tiddlewin's unrestrained emotion repelled him.
Illustration: "'Where's my cousin? If she's under the car, for Heaven's sake get someone as quickly as you can—never mind about me!'"
"Why do you go on standing there?" ”

“ She's awfully clever, and she'll make you both as comfortable as anyone can make you, while we run the doctor to earth."
"Is yours a big house?" she asked weakly.
"Huge!" He laughed for the first time since the accident. "In fact, a lot of it is now shut up. So you see there is plenty of room for you and your cousin." ”