s failed in my negotiation, however," said Lord Glengariff,
peevishly; "at least, Hankes just told me that it can't be done. I
detest that fellow Hankes. It shows great want of tact in Dunn having
such a man in his employment,--a vulgar, self-sufficient, over-dressed
fellow, who can't help being familiar out of his own self-satisfaction.
Now, Dunn himself knows his place. Don't you think so?"

She muttered something not very intelligible, but which sounded like
concurrence.

"Yes," he resumed, "Dunn does not forget himself,--at least, with me."
And to judge from the carriage of his head as he spoke, and the air with
which he earned the pinch of snuff to his nose, he had not yet despaired
of seeing the world come back to the traditions which once had made it
worth living in.

"I am willing to give him every credit for his propriety of conduct,
Augusta," added he, in a still more lofty tone; "for we live in times
when really wealth and worldly prosperity have more than their rightful
supremacy, and such men as Dunn are made the marks of an adulation that
is actually an outrage,--an outrage upon _us!_"

And the last little monosyllable was uttered with an emphasis of intense
significance.

Just as his Lordship had rounded his peroration, the servant presented
him with a small three-cornered note. He opened it and read,--

"My Lord,--I think the bearer of this, T. Driscoll, might possibly
do what you wish for; and I send him, since I am sure that a personal
interview with your Lordship would be more efficacious than any
negotiation.

"By your Lordship's most obedient to command,

"Simpson Hankes."

"Is the person who brought this below?" asked Lord Glengariff.

"Yes, my Lord; he is waiting for the answer."

"Show him into my dressing-room."

Mr. Terence Driscoll was accordingly introduced into that sanctum;
and while he employs his few spare moments in curious and critical
examination of the various gold and silver objects which contribute to
his Lordship's toilet, and wonderingly snuffs at essences and odors of
whose existence he had never dreamed, let us take the opportunity of a
little examination of himself. He was a short, fat old man, with a
very round red face, whose jovial expression was rather heightened than
marred by a tremendous squint; for the eyes kept in incessant play and
movement, which intimated a restless drollery that his full, capacious
mouth well responded to. In dress and general appear