I am very sorry for George Fairfax."
"Do you know him?"
"Yes, and he is a very noble fellow. He has been rather wild, I believe;
but of course we are not supposed to know anything about that; and I have
heard that he is the most generous-hearted of men. I know Lady Geraldine
has contrived to keep him dangling about her whenever he was in England
for the last six or eight years; but I thought it was one of those old
established flirtations that would never come to anything--a kind of
institution. I was quite surprised to hear of their engagement--and very
sorry."
"But Lady Geraldine is very much attached to him, is she not?"
"O yes, I daresay she likes him; it would be almost difficult for any
one to avoid liking him. She used to do her utmost to keep him about her
always, I know; and I believe the flirtation has cost her more than one
chance of a good marriage. But I doubt if we should have ever heard of this
engagement if Reginald Fairfax had not died, and left his brother the heir
of Lyvedon."
"Is Lyvedon a very grand place?"
"It is a fine estate, I believe; a noble old house in Kent, with
considerable extent of land attached to it. The place belongs now to Sir
Spencer Lyvedon, an old bachelor, whose only sister is George Fairfax's
mother. The property is sure to come to Mr. Fairfax in a few years. He is
to be here to-morrow, they say; and you will see him, and be able to judge
for yourself whether Lady Geraldine is worthy of him.
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