I was actuated by a paltry spirit of malice, and that would
have been worse to bear than anything. No--turn my gaze to whichever
side I. would, the horizon seemed alike clouded; there was no comfort
for me anywhere. I looked at my watch--two o'clock! Three long hours to
dinner-time, in which I might do what I liked. _What I liked_! there was
mockery in the very sound. What was there for me to do? go out and see
more new faces looking coldly on me, and wander up and down in strange
places alone, amidst a crowd? No! I had not the heart to do that. Sit
down, and write home, and by telling them how miserable I was, render
them unhappy too?--that was worst of all. At length I found a book, and
began reading as it were mechanically, but so little was I able to fix
my attention that, had I been questioned at the end of the time as to
the subject of the work I had been ~24~~perusing, I should have been
utterly at a loss for an answer. I had fairly given it up as hopeless,
and closed the book, when I heard footsteps in the passage, followed by
the sudden apparition of the ever-smiling Mr. Frederick Coleman, who,
closing the door after him, accosted me as follows:--

"What, Fairlegh, all in the downs, old fellow?--'never say die!'--come,
be jolly--look at me".

As he said this I involuntarily raised my eyes to his features, and
certainly if ever there were a face formed for banishing blue devils by
a glance, it was his. It was a round face, not remarkable for beauty
of outline, inasmuch as it bore a strong resemblance to that of the
gentleman on the blue China plates, in two pigtails and a petticoat,
who appears to pass a mild ornithological and botanical existence in
studying intently certain fishy-looking birds, and a cannon-ball tree,
which form the leading feature of the landscape in his vicinity. With
regard to expression, however, Coleman had a decided advantage over
the Chinese horticulturist, for, whereas the countenance of the latter
gentleman expresses (if indeed it can be said to express anything) only
meek astonishment, Coleman's small black eyes danced and sparkled with
such a spirit of mischief and devilry, while such a fund of merriment,
and, as it now for the first time struck me, of good-nature also, lurked
about the corners of his mouth, that it seemed impossible to look at him
without feeling that there was something contagious in his hilarity.

"Why," said I, "everything here is so new to me, so entirely dif