t is
certainly, too, very kind of him to give up his comfortable quarters
to the Shortridges, in their distress, particularly as I know he
despises the man."

Now do not blunder on to the hasty conclusion, good reader, that
L'Isle, having, at first sight, plunged over head and ears in love
with Lady Mabel, had resolved to win and wear her with the least
possible loss of time; that he was now investing the fortress, about
to besiege it in form, and would hold himself in readiness to carry it
by storm on the first opportunity. He acknowledged to himself no such
intention; and he doubtless knew his own mind best. Without exactly
holding the opinion of Sir John, as set forth by his follower,
Bardolph, that a soldier is better accommodated than with a wife--he
had often strenuously maintained, in opposition to some love-stricken
comrade, that, in the midst of a bloody war, a soldier can give no
worse proof of devotion to the lady of his choice, than urging her to
become a promising candidate for early widowhood. He preached
exceedingly well on this text, and it is but fair to believe that he
would practice what he preached. No! in the interest he took in Lady
Mabel's situation, he was actuated by no selfish or personal
motives. He acquitted himself of that. Had he come across Lady Mabel's
old Lisbon coach, beset by robbers, in her journey through the
Alemtejo, he would have dashed in among them, sword in hand, like a
true gentleman, and a good knight. Now, when he saw her surrounded by
evils and embarrassments of a less tangible kind, the same spirit of
chivalry brought him promptly to her aid.

Lady Mabel lost no time in adding Mrs. Shortridge to the list of her
female acquaintances in Elvas, which, unlike that of her male friends
was so short that this new comer was the only one available as a
companion. This jewel of a companion, which elsewhere might have
escaped her notice, was now seized upon as a diamond of the first
water; and Mrs. Shortridge was happy and flattered to find herself the
associate of a lady of rank, not to speak of her other merits.

It is not always similarity of character that makes people friends. It
quite as often makes them rivals. To have what your companion wants,
and to need what he can afford you, is a better foundation for those
social partnerships, often dignified with the name of friendship. The
great talker wants a good listener; the sluggish or melancholic are
glad of a companion who