I have not seen him
for nearly a year. He is still abroad, roaming about somewhere in search
of adventures. These young men who belong to the Geographical and the
Alpine Club are hardly ever at home.'
'But though they may be sometimes lost to society, they are all the
more worthy of society's esteem when they do appear,' said Lady
Maulevrier. 'I think there must be an ennobling influence in Alpine
travel, or in the vast solitudes of the Dark Continent. A man finds
himself face to face with unsophisticated nature, and with the grandest
forces of the universe. Professor Tyndall writes delightfully of his
Alpine experiences; his mind seems to have ripened in the solitude and
untainted air of the Alps. And I believe Lord Hartfield is a young man
of very high character and of considerable cultivation, is he not?'
'He is a splendid young fellow. I never heard a word to his
disparagement, even from those people who pretend to know something bad
about everybody. What a husband he would make for one of your girls!'
'Admirable! But those perfect arrangements, which seem predestined by
heaven itself, are so rarely realised on earth,' answered the dowager,
lightly.
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