rank, a little coarse, but hearty and honest. He adored the
Duke and Duchess of Bellamont. He was sincere; he was not a parasite;
he really believed that they were the best people in the world, and I am
not sure that he had not some foundation for his faith. On the whole,
he might be esteemed the duke's right-hand man. His Grace generally
consulted the colonel on county affairs; the command of the yeomanry
alone gave him a considerable position; he was the chief also of the
militia staff; could give his opinion whether a person was to be made a
magistrate or not; and had even been called into council when there was
a question of appointing a deputy-lieutenant. The colonel, who was a
leading member of the corporation of Montacute, had taken care to be
chosen mayor this year; he had been also chairman of the Committee of
Management during the celebration of Tancred's majority; had had the
entire ordering of the fireworks, and was generally supposed to have
given the design, or at least the leading idea, for the transparency.

We should notice also Mr. Bernard, a clergyman, and recently the private
tutor of Lord Montacute, a good scholar; in ecclesiastical opinions,
what is called high and dry. He was about five-and-thirty; well-looking,
bashful. The duke intended to prefer him to a living when one was
vacant; in the meantime he remained in the family, and at present
discharged the duties of chaplain and librarian at Montacute, and
occasionally assisted the duke as private secretary. Of his life, one
third had been passed at a rural home, and the rest might be nearly
divided between school and college.

These gentlemen, the distinguished and numerous family of the Montacute
Mountjoys, young Hunger-ford, whom the duke had good-naturedly brought
over from Bellamont for the sake of the young ladies, the duke and
duchess, and their son, formed the party, which presented rather a
contrast, not only in its numbers, to the series of recent banquets.
They dined in the Montacute chamber. The party, without intending
it, was rather dull and silent. The duchess was brooding over the
disappointment of the morning; the duke trembled for the disclosures
of the morrow. The Misses Mountjoy sang better than they talked; their
mother, who was more lively, was seated by the duke, and confined her
powers of pleasing to him. The Honourable and Reverend Montacute himself
was an epicure, and disliked conversation during dinner. Lord Montacute
s