george roden, the post office clerk, lived with his mother at holloway, about three miles from his office. there they occupied a small house which had been taken when their means were smaller even than at present;—for this had been done before the young man had made his way into the official elysium of st. martin's-le-grand. this had been effected about five years since, during which time he had risen to an income of ￡170. as his mother had means of her own amounting to about double as much, and as her personal expenses were small, they were enabled to live in comfort. she was a lady of whom none around knew anything, but there had gone abroad a rumour among her neighbours that there was something of a mystery attached to her, and there existed a prevailing feeling that she was at any rate a well-born lady. few people at holloway knew either her or her son. but there were some who condescended to watch them, and to talk about them. it was ascertained that mrs. roden usually went to church on sunday morning, but that her son never did so. it was known, too, that a female friend called upon her regularly once a week; and it was noted in the annals of holloway that this female friend came always at three o'clock on a monday. intelligent observers had become aware that the return visit was made in the course of the week, but not always made on one certain day;—from which circumstances various surmises arose as to the means, whereabouts, and character of the visitor. mrs. roden always went in a cab. the lady, whose name was soon known to be mrs. vincent, came in a brougham, which for a time was supposed to be her own peculiar property. the man who drove it was so well arrayed as to hat, cravat, and coat, as to leave an impression that he must be a private servant; but one feminine observer, keener than others, saw the man on an unfortunate day descend from his box at a public-house, and knew at once that the trousers were the trousers of a hired driver from a livery-stable. nevertheless it was manifest that mrs. vincent was better to do in the world than mrs. roden, because she could afford to hire a would-be private carriage; and it was imagined also that she was a lady accustomed to remain at home of an afternoon, probably with the object of receiving visitors, because mrs. roden made her visits indifferently on thursday, friday, or saturday. it was suggested also that mrs. vincent was no friend to the young clerk, because it was well known that he was never there when the lady came, and it was supposed that he never accompanied his mother on the return visits. he had, indeed, on one occasion been seen to get out of the cab with his mother at their own door, but it was strongly surmised that she had then picked him up at the post office. his official engagements might, indeed, have accounted for all this naturally; but the ladies of holloway were well aware that the humanity of the postmaster-general allowed a saturday half-holiday to his otherwise overworked officials, and they were sure that so good a son as george roden would occasionally have accompanied his mother, had there been no especial reason against it. from this further surmises arose. some glance had fallen from the eye of the visitor lady, or perhaps some chance word had been heard from her lips, which created an opinion that she was religious. she probably objected to george roden because he was anti-religious, or at any rate anti-church, meeting, or chapel-going. it had become quite decided at holloway that mrs. vincent would not put up with the young clerk's infidelity. and it was believed that there had been "words" between the two ladies themselves on the subject of religion,—as to which probably there was no valid foundation, it being an ascertained fact that the two maids who were employed by mrs. roden were never known to tell anything of their mistress.

it was decided at holloway that mrs. roden and mrs. vincent were cousins. they were like enough in face and near enough in age to have been sisters; but old mrs. demijohn, of no. 10, paradise row, had declared that had george been a nephew his aunt would not have wearied in her endeavour to convert him. in such a case there would have been intimacy in spite of disapproval. but a first cousin once removed might be allowed to go to the mischief in his own way. mrs. vincent was supposed to be the elder cousin,—perhaps three or four years the elder,—and to have therefore something of an authority, but not much. she was stouter, too, less careful to hide what grey hairs years might have produced, and showing manifestly by the nature of her bonnets and shawls that she despised the vanities of the world. not but that she was always handsomely dressed, as mrs. demijohn was very well aware. less than a hundred a year could not have clothed mrs. vincent, whereas mrs. roden, as all the world perceived, did not spend half the money. but who does not know that a lady may repudiate vanity in rich silks and cultivate the world in woollen stuffs, or even in calico? nothing was more certain to mrs. demijohn than that mrs. vincent was severe, and that mrs. roden was soft and gentle. it was assumed also that the two ladies were widows, as no husband or sign of a husband had appeared on the scene. mrs. vincent showed manifestly from her deportment, as well as from her title, that she had been a married woman. as to mrs. roden, of course, there was no doubt.

in regard to all this the reader may take the settled opinions of mrs. demijohn and of holloway as being nearly true. riddles may be read very accurately by those who will give sufficient attention and ample time to the reading of them. they who will devote twelve hours a day to the unravelling of acrostics, may discover nearly all the enigmas of a weekly newspaper with a separate editor for such difficulties. mrs. demijohn had almost arrived at the facts. the two ladies were second cousins. mrs. vincent was a widow, was religious, was austere, was fairly well off, and had quarrelled altogether with her distant relative george of the post office. mrs. roden, though she went to church, was not so well given to religious observances as her cousin would have her. hence words had come which mrs. roden had borne with equanimity, but had received without effect. nevertheless the two women loved each other dearly, and it was a great part of the life of each of them that these weekly visits should be made. there was one great fact, as to which mrs. demijohn and holloway were in the wrong. mrs. roden was not a widow.

it was not till the kingsburys had left london that george told his mother of his engagement. she was well acquainted with his intimacy with lord hampstead, and knew that he had been staying at hendon hall with the kingsbury family. there had been no reticence between the mother and son as to these people, in regard to whom she had frequently cautioned him that there was danger in such associations with people moving altogether in a different sphere. in answer to this the son had always declared that he did not see the danger. he had not run after lord hampstead. circumstances had thrown them together. they had originally met each other in a small political debating society, and gradually friendship had grown. the lord had sought him, and not he the lord. that, according to his own idea, had been right. difference in rank, difference in wealth, difference in social regard required as much as that. he, when he had discovered who was the young man whom he had met, stood off somewhat, and allowed the friendship to spring from the other side. he had been slow to accept favour,—even at first to accept hospitality. but whenever the ice had, as he said, been thoroughly broken, then he thought that there was no reason why they should not pull each other out of the cold water together. as for danger, what was there to fear? the marchioness would not like it? very probably. the marchioness was not very much to hampstead, and was nothing at all to him. the marquis would not really like it. perhaps not. but in choosing a friend a young man is not supposed to follow altogether his father's likings,—much less need the chosen friend follow them. but the marquis, as george pointed out to his mother, was hardly more like other marquises than the son was like other marquis's sons. there was a radical strain in the family, as was made clear by that tailor who was still sitting for the borough of edgeware. mrs. roden, however, though she lived so much alone, seeing hardly anything of the world except as mrs. vincent might be supposed to represent the world, had learned that the feelings and political convictions of the marquis were hardly what they had been before he had married his present wife. "you may be sure, george," she had said, "that like to like is as safe a motto for friendship as it is for love."

"not a doubt, mother," he replied; "but before you act upon it you must define 'like.' what makes two men like—or a man and a woman?"

"outside circumstances of the world more than anything else," she answered, boldly.

"i would fancy that the inside circumstances of the mind would have more to do with it." she shook her head at him, pleasantly, softly, and lovingly,—but still with a settled purpose of contradiction. "i have admitted all along," he continued, "that low birth—"

"i have said nothing of low birth!" here was a point on which there did not exist full confidence between the mother and son, but in regard to which the mother was always attempting to reassure the son, while he would assume something against himself which she would not allow to pass without an attempt of faint denial.

"that birth low by comparison," he continued, going on with his sentence, "should not take upon itself as much as may be allowed to nobility by descent is certain. though the young prince may be superior in his gifts to the young shoeblack, and would best show his princeliness by cultivating the shoeblack, still the shoeblack should wait to be cultivated. the world has created a state of things in which the shoeblack cannot do otherwise without showing an arrogance and impudence by which he could achieve nothing."

"which, too, would make him black his shoes very badly."

"no doubt. that will have to come to pass any way, because the nobler employments to which he will be raised by the appreciating prince will cause him to drop his shoes."

"is lord hampstead to cause you to drop the post office?"

"not at all. he is not a prince nor am i a shoeblack. though we are far apart, we are not so far apart as to make such a change essential to our acquaintance. but i was saying— i don't know what i was saying."

"you were defining what 'like' means. but people always get muddled when they attempt definitions," said the mother.

"though it depends somewhat on externals, it has more to do with internals. that is what i mean. a man and woman might live together with most enduring love, though one had been noble and wealthy and the other poor and a nobody. but a thorough brute and a human being of fine conditions can hardly live together and love each other."

"that is true," she said. "that i fear is true."

"i hope it is true."

"it has often to be tried, generally to the great detriment of the better nature."

all this, however, had been said before george roden had spoken a word to lady frances, and had referred only to the friendship as it was growing between her son and the young lord.

the young lord had come on various occasions to the house at holloway, and had there made himself thoroughly pleasant to his friend's mother. lord hampstead had a way of making himself pleasant in which he never failed when he chose to exercise it. and he did exercise it almost always,—always, indeed, unless he was driven to be courteously disagreeable by opposition to his own peculiar opinion. in shooting, fishing, and other occupations not approved of, he would fall into a line of argument, seemingly and indeed truly good-humoured, which was apt, however, to be aggravating to his opponent. in this way he would make himself thoroughly odious to his stepmother, with whom he had not one sentiment in common. in other respects his manners were invariably sweet, with an assumption of intimacy which was not unbecoming; and thus he had greatly recommended himself to mrs. roden. who does not know the fashion in which the normal young man conducts himself when he is making a morning call? he has come there because he means to be civil. he would not be there unless he wished to make himself popular. he is carrying out some recognized purpose of society. he would fain be agreeable if it were possible. he would enjoy the moment if he could. but it is clearly his conviction that he is bound to get through a certain amount of altogether uninteresting conversation, and then to get himself out of the room with as little awkwardness as may be. unless there be a pretty girl, and chance favour him with her special companionship, he does not for a moment suppose that any social pleasure is to be enjoyed. that rational amusement can be got out of talking to mrs. jones does not enter into his mind. and yet mrs. jones is probably a fair specimen of that general society in which every one wishes to mingle. society is to him generally made up of several parts, each of which is a pain, though the total is deemed to be desirable. the pretty girl episode is no doubt an exception,—though that also has its pains when matter for conversation does not come readily, or when conversation, coming too readily, is rebuked. the morning call may be regarded as a period of unmitigated agony. now it has to be asserted on lord hampstead's behalf that he could talk with almost any mrs. jones freely and pleasantly while he remained, and take his departure without that dislocating struggle which is too common. he would make himself at ease, and discourse as though he had known the lady all his life. there is nothing which a woman likes so much as this, and by doing this lord hampstead had done much, if not to overcome, at any rate to quiet the sense of danger of which mrs. roden had spoken.

but this refers to a time in which nothing was known at holloway as to lady frances. very little had been said of the family between the mother and son. of the marquis george roden had wished to think well, but had hardly succeeded. of the stepmother he had never even wished to do so. she had from the first been known to him as a woman thoroughly wedded to aristocratic prejudices,—who regarded herself as endowed with certain privileges which made her altogether superior to other human beings. hampstead himself could not even pretend to respect her. of her roden had said very little to his mother, simply speaking of her as the marchioness, who was in no way related to hampstead. of lady frances he had simply said that there was a girl there endowed with such a spirit, that of all girls of her class she must surely be the best and noblest. then his mother had shuddered inwardly, thinking that here too there might be possible danger; but she had shrunk from speaking of the special danger even to her son.

"how has the visit gone?" mrs. roden asked, when her son had already been some hours in the house. this was after that last visit to hendon hall, in which lady frances had promised to become his wife.

"pretty well, taking it altogether."

"i know that something has disappointed you."

"no, indeed, nothing. i have been somewhat abashed."

"what have they said to you?" she asked.

"very little but what was kind,—just one word at the last."

"something, i know, has hurt you," said the mother.

"lady kingsbury has made me aware that she dislikes me thoroughly. it is very odd how one person can do that to another almost without a word spoken."

"i told you, george, that there would be danger in going there."

"there would be no danger in that if there were nothing more."

"what more is there then?"

"there would be no danger in that if lady kingsbury was simply hampstead's stepmother."

"what more is she?"

"she is stepmother also to lady frances. oh, mother!"

"george, what has happened?" she asked.

"i have asked lady frances to be my wife."

"your wife?"

"and she has promised."

"oh, george!"

"yes, indeed, mother. now you can perceive that she indeed may be a danger. when i think of the power of tormenting her stepdaughter which may rest in her hands i can hardly forgive myself for doing as i have done."

"and the marquis?" asked the mother.

"i know nothing as yet as to what his feelings may be. i have had no opportunity of speaking to him since the little occurrence took place. a word escaped me, an unthought-of word, which her ladyship overheard, and for which she rebuked me. then i left the house."

"what word?"

"just a common word of greeting, a word that would be common among dear friends, but which, coming from me to her, told all the story. i forgot the prefix which was due from such a one as i am to such as she is. i can understand with what horror i must henceforward be regarded by lady kingsbury."

"what will the marquis say?"

"i shall be a horror to him also,—an unutterable horror. the idea of contact so vile will cure him at once of all his little radical longings."

"and hampstead?"

"nothing, i think, can cure hampstead of his convictions;—but even he is not well pleased."

"has he quarrelled with you?"

"no, not that. he is too noble to quarrel on such offence. he is too noble even to take offence on such a cause. but he refuses to believe that good will come of it. and you, mother?"

"oh, george, i doubt, i doubt."

"you will not congratulate me?"

"what am i to say? i fear more than i can hope."

"when i tell you that she is noble at all points, noble in heart, noble in beauty, noble in that dignity which a woman should always carry with her, that she is as sweet a creature as god ever created to bless a man with, will you not then congratulate me?"

"i would her birth were other than it is," said the mother.

"i would have her altered in nothing," said the son. "her birth is the smallest thing about her, but such as she is i would have her altered in nothing."