to Ellinor Wade, the eldest daughter
of Colonel Wotton Wade, a boon companion of the Regent, and uncle by
marriage of a remarkable scamp and dandy, Lord Bellasis. At that time,
what with lucky speculations in the Funds--assisted, it was whispered,
by secret intelligence from France during the stormy years of '13, '14,
and '15--and the legitimate profit on his Government contracts, he had
accumulated a princely fortune, and could afford to live in princely
magnificence. But the old-man-of-the-sea burden of parsimony and avarice
which he had voluntarily taken upon him was not to be shaken off,
and the only show he made of his wealth was by purchasing, on his
knighthood, the rambling but comfortable house at Hampstead, and
ostensibly retiring from active business.

His retirement was not a happy one. He was a stern father and a severe
master. His servants hated, and his wife feared him. His only son
Richard appeared to inherit his father's strong will and imperious
manner. Under careful supervision and a just rule he might have been
guided to good; but left to his own devices outside, and galled by
the iron yoke of parental discipline at home, he became reckless and
prodigal. The mother--poor, timid Ellinor, who had been rudely torn from
the love of her youth, her cousin, Lord Bellasis--tried to restrain him,
but the head-strong boy, though owning for his mother that strong love
which is often a part of such violent natures, proved intractable, and
after three years of parental feud, he went off to the Continent, to
pursue there the same reckless life which in London had offended Sir
Richard. Sir Richard, upon this, sent for Maurice Frere, his sister's
son--the abolition of the slave trade had ruined the Bristol House of
Frere--and bought for him a commission in a marching regiment, hinting
darkly of special favours to come. His open preference for his nephew
had galled to the quick his sensitive wife, who contrasted with some
heart-pangs the gallant prodigality of her father with the niggardly
economy of her husband. Between the houses of parvenu Devine and
long-descended Wotton Wade there had long been little love. Sir Richard
felt that the colonel despised him for a city knight, and had heard that
over claret and cards Lord Bellasis and his friends had often lamented
the hard fortune which gave the beauty, Ellinor, to so sordid a
bridegroom. Armigell Esme Wade, Viscount Bellasis and Wotton, was a
product of his time. O