Page:Elizabeth's Pretenders.djvu/71

58 He would have extremely regretted seeing his handsome daughter attracted by a man who had nothing but his looks to recommend him; but if the young heiress chose so to bestow herself, it was no business of his. Shaw had as much opportunity of learning what Wybrowe's reputation was as any other man. If he received him as a friend—and it was evident that Wybrowe's intimacy at Farley was of long standing—it could be no concern of the general's. Jack Drayson, on the other hand, was a good-humoured rattle. He was conscious that the magnificent Wybrowe looked on him as "an outsider;" but he had no designs himself on Miss Shaw's fortune, and his motto was "Live and let live." He tried to be sentimental with Miss Palliser; Miss Wargrave and he chaffed each other; Mrs. Shaw and he filled odd half-hours with flirtation. Why should he spoil sport by talking about Wybrowe?

Mrs. Shaw's conduct, as a hostess, was irreproachable. Whatever she may have done in strict privacy, in public she always sacrificed herself to her guests. It was to this that she owed her popularity with other women. Jack Drayson was often peremptorily ordered from her side to make himself pleasant to one of the other ladies, while Mrs. Shaw permitted herself to be bored by General Palliser or Lady Wargrave. Elizabeth, on the other hand, possessed neither patience nor tact. No wonder, then, that none of the cakes and ale which Society allots to those who serve her as amiably as did Mrs. Shaw, fell to her niece's share. She was ticketed as a very "odd" young person; brusque at times, absolutely silent at others, and really quite too unconventional! Why, she