gn.

But though a vain man, Sir Lionel was too clever to let his vanity
show itself in an offensive manner. The "ars celare artem" was
his forte; and he was able to live before the world as though he
never cast a thought on his coat and pantaloons, or ever did more
than brush and smooth his iron-gray locks with due attention to
cleanliness.

I was going to say that Sir Lionel's appearance was the best thing
about him; but in saying so I should belie his manner, with which it
was certainly difficult for any one to find fault. It was what the
world calls happy, meaning thereby, that so great was the possessor's
luck that he was able to make it pleasant to all men, and to all
women--for a while. Mrs. Bertram--she had not lived to be my
lady--had, I believe, not always found it so.

These, joined to a readiness in the use of one or two languages
besides his own, were the qualifications which had given Sir Lionel
his title, and had caused him to be employed in so many missions in
so many countries; and on duty, too, which could not be said to be of
a military nature. He never made difficulties or enemies of his own,
and could generally smooth down the difficulties and enemies left
behind them by others, perhaps of a more sturdy temperament.

But now the catalogue of his virtues is complete. He was not a man of
genius, or even a man of talent. He had performed no great service
for his country; had neither proposed nor carried through any
valuable project of diplomacy; nor had he shown any close insight
into the habits and feelings of the people among whom he had lived.
But he had been useful as a great oil-jar, from whence oil for the
quiescence of troubled waters might ever and anon be forthcoming.
Expediency was his god, and he had hitherto worshipped it with a
successful devotion.

That he had not been a good husband has been hinted; that he had been
a very indifferent father has been made apparent. But at the moment
of his meeting with his son, he atoned for all his past sins in this
respect by the excellence of his manner; and before the evening was
over, George liked his father, who had owed him everything and given
him nothing, ten times better than he had ever liked his uncle who
had given him everything though he had owed him nothing.

"It's an odd place for us to have met in at last, is it not, sir?"
said George. They were sitting after supper very close together on
one of those stationary sofas which are fo