t it was indispensable.

It is done. He stops one moment before the long pier-glass, and shoots
a glance which would have read the mind of Talleyrand. It will do.
He assumes the look, the air that befit the occasion: cordial, but
dignified; sublime, but sweet. He descends like a deity from Olympus to
a banquet of illustrious mortals.

CHAPTER VIII.

_'Fair Women and Brave Men.'_

MR. DACRE received him with affection: his daughter with a cordiality
which he had never yet experienced from her. Though more simply dressed
than when she first met his ardent gaze, her costume again charmed his
practised eye. 'It must be her shape,' thought the young Duke; 'it is
magical!'

The rooms were full of various guests, and some of these were presented
to his Grace, who was, of course, an object of universal notice, but
particularly by those persons who pretended not to be aware of his
entrance. The party assembled at Castle Dacre consisted of some thirty
or forty persons, all of great consideration, but of a different
character from any with whom the Duke of St. James had been acquainted
during his short experience of English society. They were not what are
called fashionable people. We have no princes and no ambassadors, no
duke who is a gourmand, no earl who is a jockey, no manoeuvring mothers,
no flirting daughters, no gambling sons, for your entertainment. There
is no superfine gentleman brought down specially from town to gauge
the refinement of the manners of the party, and to prevent them, by
his constant supervision and occasional sneer, from losing any of the
beneficial results of their last campaign. We shall sadly want, too,
a Lady Patroness to issue a decree or quote her code of consolidated
etiquette. We are not sure that Almack's will ever be mentioned: quite
sure that Maradan has never yet been heard of. The Jockey Club may be
quoted, but Crockford will be a dead letter. As for the rest, Boodle's
is all we can promise; miserable consolation for the bow-window. As for
buffoons and artists, to amuse a vacant hour or sketch a vacant face, we
must frankly tell you at once that there is not one. Are you frightened?
Will you go on? Will you trust yourself with these savages? Try. They
are rude, but they are hospitable.

The party, we have said, were all persons of great consideration; some
were noble, most were rich, all had ancestors. There were the Earl
and Countess of Faulconcourt. He looked as if he we