" Or too ugly ; for," Lady Blanche reasoned, " if Alfred
is to take the stand we wish, he must have a wife whom he
can love and be proud of. Now," she said to the Earl, only
the day before Lord Conyngham had come upon his friend
the American as he rode, " I believe that for every Adam
God makes a definite Eve. So far as I can see, Mary Harris
is the only woman who combines all the qualities with none
of the defects. You know what Aspasia was to Pericles ? "

" I know," the Earl remarked, " what Lady Palmerston
was to her husband : the secret soul of his political success,
if that is what you mean,"



THE INEVITABLE. 279

**Yes, sir. Now," said Lady Blanche, bitterly, "no
woman could make anything of the Duke of Plymouth, but
in thU case there is some hope. My brother's entire future
depends upon his marrying her, so far as I can see. If he
does not, he will dawdle away his life in billiard-halls and
club-rooms, like so many of his class, disgracing us, most
likely, by disreputable connections, to be married at last to
some inferior woman. Let him follow his heart and marry
hery and she will make him a success in spite, if necessary,
of himself. I want to see him made a duke, and so does
that beautiful, sensible, ambitious American girl. Our fam-
ily needs new blood," and then the poor girl thought of the
Duke to whom she was betrothed, and turned pale.
