self,--though by right it is my business;
instead of that, there's the Captain sending for this, and Cleremont for
the other, and you 'll see there will be enough for three entertainments
when it's all over. Could you just say a word to him, sir?"

"Not for the world, Nixon. Papa is very kind to me and good-natured,
but I 'll not risk any liberty with him; and what's more, I 'd be right
sorry to call Mr. Cleremont Cleremont before him, as you have done twice
within the last five minutes."

"Lord bless you, Master Digby! I 've known him these fifteen years. I
knew him when he came out, just a boy like, to Lord Colthorpe's embassy.
He and I is like pals."

"You have known _me_ also as a boy, Nixon," said I, haughtily; "and yet,
I promise you, I 'll not permit you to speak of me as Norcott, when I am
a man."

"No fear of that, sir, you may depend on 't," said he, with humility;
but there was a malicious twinkle in his eye, and a firm compression of
the lip as he withdrew, that did not leave my mind the whole day after.
Indeed, I recognized that his face had assumed the selfsame look of
insolent familiarity it wore when he spoke of Cleremont.

The evening of that day was passed filling up the cards of
invitation,--a process which amused me greatly, affording, as it did, a
sort of current critique on the persons whose names came up for notice,
and certainly, if I were to judge of their eligibility only by what
I heard of their characters, I might well feel amazed why they were
singled out for attentions. They were marquises and counts, however,
chevaliers of various orders, grand cordons and "hautes charges," so
that their trespasses or their shortcomings had all been enacted in the
world of good society, and with each other as accomplices or victims.
There were a number of contingencies, too, attached to almost every
name. There must be high play for the Russian envoy, flirting for the
French minister's wife, iced drinks for the Americans, and scandal and
Ostend oysters for everybody. There was scarcely a good word for any
one, and yet the most eager anxiety was expressed that they would all
come. Immense precautions had been taken to fix a day when there was
nothing going on at court or in the court circle. It was difficult
to believe that pleasure could be planned with such heart-burning and
bitterness. There was scarcely a detail that did not come associated
with something that reflected on the morals or the manners