stify him in
spending morning after morning alone with her.

Thus cogitating, Lord Vargrave suffered Mr. Douce to stammer out
sentence upon sentence, till at length, as he rang for coffee, his
lordship stretched himself with the air of a man stretching himself into
self-complacency or a good thing, and said,--

"Mr. Douce, I will go down to Lisle Court as soon as I can; I will see
it; I will ascertain all about it; I will consider favourably of it. I
agree with you, I think it will do famously."

"But," said Mr. Douce, who seemed singularly anxious about the matter,
"we must make haste, my lord; for really--yes, indeed--if--if--if Baron
Roths--Rothschild should--that is to say--"

"Oh, yes, I understand; keep the thing close, my dear Douce; make
friends with the colonel's lawyer; play with him a little, till I can
run down."

"Besides, you see, you are such a good man of business, my lord--that
you see, that--yes, really--there must be time to draw out the
purchase-money--sell out at a prop--prop--"

"To be sure, to be sure! Bless me, how late it is! I am afraid my
carriage is ready. I must go to Madame de L-----'s."

Mr. Douce, who seemed to have much more to say, was forced to keep it
for another time, and to take his leave. Lord Vargrave went to Madame
de L-----'s. His position in what is called Exclusive Society was rather
peculiar. By those who affected to be the best judges, the frankness of
his manner and the easy oddity of his conversation were pronounced at
variance with the tranquil serenity of thorough breeding. But still he
was a great favourite both with fine ladies and dandies. His handsome
keen countenance, his talents, his politics, his intrigues, and an
animated boldness in his bearing, compensated for his constant violation
of all the minutiae of orthodox conventionalism.

At this house he met Colonel Maltravers, and took an opportunity to
renew his acquaintance with that gentleman. He then referred, in a
confidential whisper, to the communication he had received touching
Lisle Court.

"Yes," said the colonel, "I suppose I must sell the place, if I can
do so quietly. To be sure, when I first spoke to my lawyer it was in a
moment of vexation, on hearing that the ----- railroad was to go through
the park, but I find that I overrated that danger. Still, if you will
do me the honour to go and look over the place, you will find very good
shooting; and when you come back, you can see if it will su