ded, meanwhile, it was observed that Mr
Sparks was judiciously careful to forbear all mention. It might have
been supposed that he had purchased the estate of the Crown or the
Court of Chancery, so utterly ignorant did he appear of the age,
habits, and whereabout of his predecessor; and when informed by Sir
John Wargrane, one of his wealthy neighbours, that young Altham was
disgracing himself again--that at the public gaming-tables at Toplitz
he had been a loser of thirty thousand pounds--the cunning _parvenu_
listened with an air of as vague indifference as if he were not
waiting with breathless anxiety the gradual dissipation of the funds,
secured to the young spendthrift by the transfer of his estate, to
grasp at the small remaining portion of his property. Unconsciously,
when the tale of Sir Laurence's profligacy met his ear, he clenched
his griping hand, as though it already recognized its hold upon the
destined spoil, but not a word did he utter.

Meanwhile, the family of the new squire of Lexley were winning golden
opinions on all sides. "The boys were brave--the girls were fair," the
mother virtuous, pious, and unpretending. It would have been
scandalous, indeed, to sneer to shame the modest cheerfulness of such
people, because their ancestors had not fought at the Crusades. By
degrees, they assumed an honourable and even eminent position in the
county; and the first time Sir Laurence Altham condescended to visit
the county-palatine, he heard nothing but commendations and admiration
of the charming family at Lexley Park.

"Charming family!--a Jonas Sparks, and charming!" was his
supercilious reply. "I rejoice to find that the _fumier_ I have been
forced to fling on my worn-out ancestral estate is fertilizing its
barrenness. The village is probably the better for the change. But, as
regards the society, I must be permitted to mistrust the attractions
of the brood of a Congleton manufacturer."

The young baronet, who now, though still entitled to be called young,
was disfigured by the premature defeatures of a vicious life,
mistrusted it all the more, when, on visiting the old hall, he was
forced to recognize the improvements effected in the neighbouring
property (that he should be forced to call it "_neighbouring_!") by
the judicious administration of the new owner. It was impossible to
deny that Mr Sparks had doubled its value, while enhancing its
beauties. The low grounds were drained, the high lands planted