lin, he doubtless fancied in his mind the splendors that awaited
him at home; the troops of servants in smart liveries, the homage of
his household, and the costly entertainment which most certainly should
celebrate his arrival. Public rumor had given to the hospitalities
of that house a wide extended fame. The fashionable fishmonger of the
capital, his Excellency's "purveyor" of game, the celebrated Italian
warehouse, all proclaimed him their best customer. "Can't let you have
that turbot, sir, till I hear from Mr. Dunn." "Only two pheasants to be
had, sir, and ordered for Mr. Dunn." "The white truffles only taken
by one gentleman in town. None but Mr. Dunn would pay the price." The
culinary traditions of his establishment threw the Castle into the
background, and Kellett revelled in the notion of the great festivity
that now welcomed his return. "Lords and earls--the biggest salmon in
the market--the first men of the land--and lobster sauce--ancient names
and good families--with grouse, and 'Sneyd's Twenty-one'--that 's
what you may call life! It is wonderful, wonderful!" Now, when Paul
enunciated the word "wonderful" in this sense, he meant it to imply that
it was shameful, distressing, and very melancholy for the prospects of
humanity generally. And then he amused himself by speculating whether
Dunn liked it all,--whether the unaccustomed elegance of these great
dinners did not distress and pain him rather than give pleasure, and
whether the very consciousness of his own low origin wasn't a poison
that mingled in every cup he tasted.

"It's no use talking," muttered he to himself; "a man must be bred to
it, like everything else. The very servants behind his chair frighten
him; he's, maybe, eating with his knife, or he's putting salt where he
ought to put sugar, or he does n't take the right kind of wine with his
meat. Beecher says he 'd know any fellow just by that, and then it's
'all up' with him. Wonderful, wonderful!"

How would it have affected these speculations had Kellett known that,
while he was indulging them, Dunn had quietly issued by a back door
from his house, and, having engaged a car, set out towards Clontarf?
A drearier drive of a dreary evening none need wish for. Occasional
showers were borne on the gusty wind, swooping past as though hurrying
to some elemental congress far away, while along the shore the waves
beat with that irregular plash that betokens wild weather at sea. The
fitful moonlight