ABSTRACT
Vansittart was not a man to do things by halves. Once he had made up his mind to a course, he followed it with resistless energy, and before a fortnight had passed he was, in his own opinion, irretrievably committed to the task of wooing and winning Mademoiselle Honorine de Montpensier as his wife. The novelty of the pursuit was in itself a recommendation to his ardent temperament. He did not ask himself whether or not that which men called love had come to him. He was not one to whom affairs of the heart were matters of everyday occurrence. Marriage, of course, he had frequently contemplated as a distant possibility, and in the main it had presented itself to him as a disagreeable adjunct to his position. The fact that almost any woman in the world might be considered an eligible partner for this multi-millionaire had directly contributed to his general attitude upon the question.
