In the course of conversation one day the name of John Derrick happened to be mentioned, and Eveline heard with secret emotion that he had been a fellow-student with Staunton at Harrow and Oxford. As he did not know that she had any intimate knowledge of the family, or any connection with John Derrick in particular, Staunton could not guess how she was pained to hear anecdotes of his sensitive vanity, of his deficient scholarship, of his want of gentlemanly feeling, of his desire to fasten himself on great people, and of the rebuffs he had met with. Lady Gower acknowledged that it took several generations of wealth to get the tradesman's spirit out of the blood of these money magnates, and laughed at Mr. Staunton's description as heartily as the others, lamenting that so fine a property as Stanmore should have fallen into such hands, and bringing in a disparaging allusion to the Pennithorne alliance which Herbert Darlington had contracted. "Nothing can be done with her, Eveline. I made an effort and went to her, but she is hopeless, absolutely hopeless. And Manchester is several devotees lower than London of course."
All his must be true—quite true, for Eveline believed implicitly in Staunton, and how much more distressing was her engagement to her. Her indifference was fast changing into positive
