She tried to turn his attentions to some pretty girls; but,
although there were one or two who might, in some weak moments, have
compromised with his millions, he did no more than saunter with them on
the terrace and oppress them with his lisping egotism. Every one hinted
that he seemed an estimable, but trying, young man; and, as Sir Duke said
to his wife, the men would not have him at any price.
As for Mr. Vandewaters and Gracia Raglan, Lady Lawless was not very sure
that her delicate sympathy was certain of reward. The two were naturally
thrown together a good deal; but Miss Raglan was a girl of singular
individuality and high-mindedness, and she was keen enough to see from
the start what Lady Lawless suspected might happen. She did not resent
this,--she was a woman; but it roused in her a spirit of criticism, and
she threw up a barrier of fine reserve, which puzzled Mr. Vandewaters. He
did not see that Lady Lawless was making a possible courtship easy for
him. If he had, it would have made no difference: he would have looked at
it as at most things, broadly. He was not blind to the fact that his
money might be a "factor", but, as he said to himself, his millions were
a part of him--they represented, like whist-counters, so much pluck and
mother-wit. He liked the general appreciation of them: he knew very well
that people saw him in them and them in him.
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