argain, cutting down every one's demand to
the measure of their own pockets, end by making the word 'Englishman' a
synonym for all that is mean, shabby, and contemptible. The English of
that day were of another class; and assuredly their characteristics, as
regards munificence and high dealing, must have been strongly impressed
upon the minds of foreigners, seeing how their successors, very
different people, have contrived to trade upon the mere memory of these
qualities ever since."

"Which all means that 'my lord' stood cheating better than those who
came after him," said Harcourt, bluntly.

"He did so; and precisely for that very reason he conveyed the notion
of a people who do not place money in the first rank of all their
speculations, and who aspire to no luxury that they have not a just
right to enjoy. But to come back to Glencore. He soon became a favored
guest at the Palazzo della Torre. His rank, name, and station, combined
with very remarkable personal qualities, obtained for him a high place
in the old Prince's favor, and Ninetta deigned to accord him a little
more notice than she bestowed on any one else. I have, in the course of
my career, had occasion to obtain a near view of royal personages and
their habits, and I can say with certainty that never in any station, no
matter how exalted, have I seen as haughty a spirit as in that girl. To
the pride of her birth, rank, and splendid mode of life were added the
consciousness of her surpassing beauty, and the graceful charm of a
manner quite unequalled. She was incomparably superior to all around
her, and, strangely enough, she did not offend by the bold assertion
of this superiority. It seemed her due, and no more. Nor was it the
assumption of mere flattered beauty. Her house was the resort of persons
of the very highest station, and in the midst of them--some even of
royal blood--she exacted all the deference and all the homage that she
required from others."

"And they accorded it?" asked Harcourt, half contemptuously.

"They did; and so had you also if you had been in their place! Believe
me, most gallant Colonel, there is a wide difference between the empty
pretension of mere vanity and the daring assumption of conscious power.
This girl saw the influence she wielded. As she moved amongst us she
beheld the homage, not always willing, that awaited her. She felt that
she had but to distinguish any one man there, and he became for the time
as illustriou