not
get her to marry for your pleasure;« the mild mother becoming rather saucy when
she identified herself with her daughter.
    To her husband Mrs. Gascoigne said, »I hear Mr. Grandcourt has two places of
his own, but he comes to Diplow for the hunting. It is to be hoped he will set a
good example in the neighbourhood. Have you heard what sort of young man he is,
Henry?«
    Mr. Gascoigne had not heard; at least, if his male acquaintances had
gossiped in his hearing, he was not disposed to repeat their gossip, or give it
any emphasis in his own mind. He held it futile, even if it had been becoming,
to show any curiosity as to the past of a young man whose birth, wealth, and
consequent leisure made many habits venial which under other circumstances would
have been inexcusable. Whatever Grandcourt had done, he had not ruined himself;
and it is well known that in gambling, for example, whether of the business or
holiday sort, a man who has the strength of mind to leave off when he has only
ruined others, is a reformed character. This is an illustration merely: Mr.
Gascoigne had not heard that Grandcourt had been a gambler; and we can hardly
pronounce him singular in feeling that a landed proprietor with a mixture of
noble blood in his veins was not to be an object of suspicious inquiry like a
reformed character who offers himself as your butler or footman. Reformation,
where a man can afford to do without it, can hardly be other than genuine.
Moreover, it was not certain on any showing hitherto that Mr. Grandcourt had
needed reformation more than other young men in the ripe youth of
five-and-thirty; and, at any rate, the significance of what he had been must be
determined by what he actually was.
    Mrs. Davilow, too, although she would not respond to her sister's pregnant
remark, could not be inwardly indifferent to an event that might promise a
brilliant lot for Gwendolen. A little speculation on »what may be« comes
naturally, without encouragement - comes inevitably in the form of images, when
unknown persons are mentioned; and Mr. Grandcourt's name raised in Mrs.
Davilow's mind first of all the picture of a handsome, accomplished, excellent
young man whom she would be satisfied with as a husband for her daughter; but
then came the further speculation - would Gwendolen be satisfied with him? There
was no knowing what would meet that girl's taste or touch her affections - it
might be something