armly with me,
thereby providing Lucy with full employment for the next ten minutes in
picking up the whole machinery of the knitting.

"Very glad indeed to see you, Mr. Lawless," commenced Mrs. Coleman.

"It's Fairlegh, mother," interposed Freddy.

"Yes, my dear, yes, I knew it was Mr. Fairlegh, only I'm always making a
mistake about names; but I never forget a face I have once seen; and
I'm sure I'm not likely to forget Mr. Fairlegh's after the noble way in
which he behaved last night" (here Mr. Coleman turned away with a kind
of ironical growl, and began caressing the cat). "I declare when I saw
him setting Clara Saville's dress on fire, so nicely made as it was
too----"

"My dear aunt," remonstrated Lucy, "it was Mr. Lawless who threw down
the candelabrum, and set Clara's frock alight."

"Yes, my love, I know, I saw it all, my dear; and very kind it was of
him, I mean afterwards, in speaking to me of it; he said he was so very
sorry about it--and he called it something funny, poor young man--'no
end of a something or other '------"

"Sell," suggested Freddy.

"Oh yes, that was it, no end of a sell. What did he mean by that, my
dear?"

~140~~"I strongly disapprove," observed Mr. Coleman (who still continued
stroking the cat as he spoke, which process he performed by passing his
hand deliberately from her head, along her back, to the very tip of
her tail, which he retained each time in his grasp for a moment, ere he
recommenced operations), "I highly disapprove of the absurd practice, so
common with young men of the present day, of expressing their ideas
in that low and incomprehensible dialect, termed 'slang,' which, in my
opinion, has neither wit nor refinement to redeem its vulgarity, and
which effectually prevents their acquiring that easy yet dignified mode
of expression which should characterise the conversation of the true
gentleman. In _my_ younger days we took Burke for our model; the
eloquence of Pitt and Fox gave the tone to society; and during our hours
of relaxation we emulated the polished wit of Sheridan; but it is
a symptom of that fearful levelling system which is one of the most
alarming features of the present age; instead of striving to raise and
exalt------"

"Really, my dear Mr. Coleman, I beg your pardon for interrupting you,"
cried his wife, "but this is the second time you've lifted my poor
little cat off her hind legs by her tail; and though she's as good as
gold, and lets you do