whether she had opened them
or not, as he bowed to his host, and in reply to, 'So, sir! I am glad
to see you,' said swimmingly that Earlsfont was the first house he had
visited in this country: and the scenery reminded him of his part of
Ireland: and on landing at Holyhead he had gone off straight to the
metropolis by appointment to meet his brother Philip, just returned
from Canada a full captain, who heartily despatched his compliments and
respects, and hoped to hear of perfect health in this quarter of the
world. And Captain Con the same, and he was very flourishing.

Patrick's opening speech concluded on the sound of a short laugh coming
from Mr. Adister.

It struck the young Irishman's ear as injurious and scornful in relation
to Captain Con; but the remark ensuing calmed him:

'He has no children.'

'No, sir; Captain Con wasn't born to increase the number of our clan,'
Patrick rejoined; and thought: By heaven! I get a likeness of her out
of you, with a dash of the mother mayhap somewhere. This was his
Puck-manner of pulling a girdle round about from what was foremost in
his head to the secret of his host's quiet observation; for, guessing
that such features as he beheld would be slumped on a handsome family,
he was led by the splendid severity of their lines to perceive an
illimitable pride in the man likely to punish him in his offspring, who
would inherit that as well; so, as is the way with the livelier races,
whether they seize first or second the matter or the spirit of what
they hear, the vivid indulgence of his own ideas helped him to catch
the right meaning by the tail, and he was enlightened upon a domestic
unhappiness, although Mr. Adister had not spoken miserably. The 'dash of
the mother' was thrown in to make Adiante, softer, and leave a loophole
for her relenting.

The master of Earlsfont stood for a promise of beauty in his issue,
requiring to be softened at the mouth and along the brows, even in men.
He was tall, and had clear Greek outlines: the lips were locked metal,
thin as edges of steel, and his eyes, when he directed them on the
person he addressed or the person speaking, were as little varied by
motion of the lids as eyeballs of a stone bust. If they expressed more,
because they were not sculptured eyes, it was the expression of his
high and frigid nature rather than any of the diversities pertaining to
sentiment and shades of meaning.

'You have had the bequest of an estate,' Mr. Adi