n; who gaze with rapture on charms
heightened by the blaze of full-dress, and splendid in all the
brilliancy of jewels and flowers,--we own that we have a kind of
fondness, almost amounting to a preference, for the prim coquettishness
of a morning-dress--some light muslin thing, floating and gauzy--showing
the figure to perfection, and in its simplicity suiting well the two
braids of hair so innocently banded on the cheeks. There is something of
conscious power in the quiet garb, a sense of trustfulness; it is
like the warrior advancing without his weapons to a conference that is
exceedingly pleasing, seeming to say, You see that I am not a being of
tulle, and gauze, and point de Bruxelles, of white satin, and turquoise,
and pink camellias, but a creature whose duties may be in the daily
round of life, meant to sit beside on a grassy slope as much as on a
velvet ottoman, to talk with as well as flirt with.

We have no means of knowing if Cashel was of our mind, and whether
these demi-toilette visions were as suggestive to his as they are to our
imagination, but that he bore his disappointment with a very bad grace
we can perfectly answer for, and showed, by his distracted manner
and inattentive air, that the papa's companionship was a very poor
substitute for the daughters'.

It must be owned, too, that Mr. Kennyfeck was scarcely a brilliant
converser, nor, had he been so, was the matter under consideration of
a kind to develop and display his abilities. The worthy solicitor had
often promised himself the pleasure he now enjoyed of recounting the
whole story of the law proceedings. It was the great event of his
own life, "his Waterloo," and he dwelt on every detail with a prosy
dalliance that was death to the listener. Legal subtleties, shrewd and
cunning devices of crafty counsellors, all the artful dodges of the
profession, Cashel heard with a scornful indifference or a downright
apathy, and it demanded all Mr. Kennyfeck's own enthusiasm in the case
to make him persist in a narrative so uninteresting to its only auditor.

"I fear I weary you, Mr. Cashel," said the solicitor, "with these
details, but I really supposed that you must feel desirous of knowing
not only the exact circumstances of your estate, but of learning the
very singular history by which your claim was substantiated."

"If I am to be frank," said Cashel, boldly, "I must tell you that
these things possess not the slightest interest for me. When I was