of him.

"Indeed," Lady Castlewood said, "I liked his conversation well enough.
'Tis more amusing than that of most people I know. I thought it, I own,
too free; not from what he said, as rather from what he implied."

"Psha! your ladyship does not know the world," said her husband; "and you
have always been as squeamish as when you were a miss of fifteen."

"You found no fault when I was a miss at fifteen."

"Begad, madam, you are grown too old for a pinafore now; and I hold that
'tis for me to judge what company my wife shall see," said my lord,
slapping the table.

"Indeed, Francis, I never thought otherwise," answered my lady, rising and
dropping him a curtsy, in which stately action, if there was obedience,
there was defiance too; and in which a bystander, deeply interested in the
happiness of that pair as Harry Esmond was, might see how hopelessly
separated they were; what a great gulf of difference and discord had run
between them.

"By G----d! Mohun is the best fellow in England; and I'll invite him here,
just to plague that woman. Did you ever see such a frigid insolence as it
is, Harry? That's the way she treats me," he broke out, storming, and his
face growing red as he clenched his fists and went on. "I'm nobody in my
own house. I'm to be the humble servant of that parson's daughter. By
Jove! I'd rather she should fling the dish at my head than sneer at me as
she does. She puts me to shame before the children with her d----d airs;
and, I'll swear, tells Frank and Beaty that papa's a reprobate, and that
they ought to despise me."

"Indeed and indeed, sir, I never heard her say a word out of respect
regarding you," Harry Esmond interposed.

"No, curse it! I wish she would speak. But she never does. She scorns me,
and holds her tongue. She keeps off from me, as if I was a pestilence. By
George! she was fond enough of her pestilence once. And when I came
a-courting, you would see miss blush--blush red, by George! for joy. Why,
what do you think she said to me, Harry? She said herself, when I joked
with her about her d--d smiling red cheeks: ''Tis as they do at St.
James's; I put up my red flag when my king comes.' I was the king, you
see, she meant. But now, sir, look at her! I believe she would be glad if
I was dead; and dead I've been to her these five years--ever since you all
of you had the small-pox: and she never forgave me for going away."

"Indeed, my lord, though 'twas hard to forgive, I think