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his Grace dexterously evaded by stepping aside, and declaring he had rather stand. Then having made a slight bow to the company, he placed his back against the wall, near the fireplace; and while his host stood on tip-toe to reach his ear, the grandee himself cast an eye around to ascertain that there was nothing so great or so powerful in the room as himself; and having ascertained that fact, a smiling air of complacency overspread his features, and he whispered to the delighted Mr. Fitzhammond till dinner was announced.

CHAPTER II.

We meet! but not as once we met;

Our better days are o'er,

And dearly as I prize thee yet,

I cannot love thee more:

My young and precious hopes were wept
With many a tear away,

And since thy faith so long has slept,

It wakes too late to-day!

T. K. HERVEY.

THE company paired off according to Heraldic laws. Mr. Fitzhammond handed down Lady Arabella Courtney; the Countess of Glassington followed on the arm of Lord Bellamont, while Lord Mowbray hung a little back; Mr. Carlton stepped forward and offered his arm to Lady Frances; Lady Emily, of course, fell to Lord Mowbray; and the remainder of the party followed as near to the prescribed forms of precedency, as the arrangements of the moment permitted.

The Duke of Godolphin secured to himself the

honour of conducting Mrs. Fitzhammond to the dining-room, where the parties became happily approximated in the manner most agreeable to their respective tastes.

Lady Emily found herself between Lord Mowbray and Colonel Pennington. Lady Frances was pleased to have Lord Bellamont on one side and Mr. Carlton on the other. While, within reach of the dumb-show peculiar to the caste to which they devoted themselves, and on the opposite side, sat Lady Arabella, with whom Lady Frances continued an intelligence throughout the dinner relative to all that was passing obnoxious to their ideas of ton. The favoured gentlemen of their suite, the initiated in this freemasonry of impertinence, were participators in the scene; and while the really well-bred part of the company felt distressed at the suppressed laughter and rude whispers which passed from one to the other, the unfortunate relatives of the house, persons, in fact, infinitely superior to those who scorned them, and whom Mrs. Fitzhammond had the good sense and the good feeling never to exclude, even at the risk of having a mixed company, sat abashed and mortified by fashionable folly. In the midst of

this inharmonious and uncongenial banquet, a pause frequently took place, which, if not disturbed by the significant looks and half words of the party alluded to, the host endeavoured to break by addressing himself to the Duke of Godolphin, who sometimes deigned to utter a monosyllable or two by way of reply.

The conversation, such as it was, was carried on in starts and at intervals; the Duke of Godolphin addressing the little he said to Mrs. Fitzhammond and Lady Glassington, who were on each side of him. The old General had found a congenial companion in the latter lady, who was an old and valued friend. Lady Frances was carrying on an animated flirtation with Mr. Carlton, perhaps to pique Lord Bellamont, whose eye and attention seemed to wander too frequently towards Lord Mowbray and Emily, who were opposite; while Mrs. Neville, who sat a little lower, no longer under the governing look of Lady Glassington, made her shrill voice heard in every pause of the conversation, and her tongue proved on this occasion, as on most others, a very unruly member.

"Do look towards the top," said she to her next neighbour below, the smiling, silent, polite,

Sir Richard Townley, "nobody talks for fear of that great magog the Duke-they all look as frightened as if he were the only Duke in the world; but I am determined to talk. Charming! charming! Well! to be sure,-a gorgon's head could not have turned them all to stone more effectually; and after all, what for? My grandfather remembered the family when they were nobodies; they got all their wealth from their lead mines, and some of them worked in them, no doubt; but arrogance has served them instead of birth, and pretension makes up what they want in nobility. Well! to be sure, hunch! hunch!”. an indescribable sort of groan which she uttered at every two words-" when I was young no one thought any thing of him or his family; but now, because they assume those airs, and cover themselves with an impenetrable mantle of pride, fools fall down and worship at their feet. Well! to be sure, it is beyond belief!" and she looked round to Lord Mowbray. "The great man," continued she maliciously, "expects your Lordship to pay more attention to Lady Arabella,-nay, I am sure he expects you to fall in love with her; they are very anxious to graft themselves, with their new

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