FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83  
84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   >>   >|  
h an atrocious character! "You've met Mr Marvale before?" I said to Sibylla, as I took her into the dining-room. "Oh, yes--at my cousin Jane's, in Russell Square--a wonderful man--a perfect genius!" "I hope to Heaven he's no worse," said I, "though that's bad enough." "Bad enough! Oh, I doat on men of genius! Did you never hear of him? He is quite a celebrity. Cousin Jane always has him at her literary parties, for she does not know Bulwer or Dickens; and he's so handsome, too--such a wild expression." "Wild enough to get him two months of the tread-mill, if your father lays hands on him." But when I saw the glance of profound admiration darted by Sibylla at the interesting stranger, I felt sure she would only like him the more if he were found out to be a murderer in reality; for there is a certain school of young ladies who do not stand upon trifles in the way of their flirtations, but extract fresh reasons for glorifying the object of their preference, from facts which the unwary lay before them by way of warnings. If he is a spendthrift, it is so noble to be free and generous; if he is a gambler, he is of such a fine unsuspecting disposition, he is only the dupe of the designing. In short, whatever you say to put them on their guard, only makes them expose themselves the more; and, therefore, I made no further attempt to open the eyes of Miss Sibylla Smith. All passed off very well at dinner. Every one was kind to Frank, and, for his sake, were abundantly civil to his friend; but that individual seemed to care very little whether we were civil to him or not. He talked more than all the rest of us put together-- corrected Old Smith on points of law--and put me right on the routine of crops; proved to old Lambert's own satisfaction that he knew nothing of stall-feeding, and so belaboured us with great people, with their whole birth, parentage, and connexions, that we might have fancied he was Mr Debrett. Sibylla evidently believed he was the most delightful of men; and certainly the looks she darted at _him_, and the looks he darted at _her_, were the most extraordinary phenomena of the look kind I ever happened to see. It was quite evident that the daughter's feelings were not shared by Old Smith; and I made little doubt he would have been delighted to give him seven years of the hulks, if he could have found out any act of Parliament making it penal for a good-looking young fellow to encourage a silly y
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83  
84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Sibylla

 

darted

 

genius

 

Parliament

 

friend

 
individual
 

abundantly

 

making

 

talked

 
attempt

expose

 
dinner
 

encourage

 

passed

 

fellow

 

parentage

 

connexions

 

evident

 

daughter

 

people


happened

 

phenomena

 

delightful

 

extraordinary

 

believed

 

evidently

 

fancied

 

Debrett

 

belaboured

 

feeding


shared

 
feelings
 

points

 

delighted

 

corrected

 
routine
 

satisfaction

 

Lambert

 

proved

 

glorifying


literary

 

parties

 

Cousin

 

celebrity

 

Bulwer

 

months

 
expression
 

Dickens

 

handsome

 

Marvale