ands out
of your pockets!"

A short pause ensued.

"We see a great deal of company," said Mrs. Copperas, pompously, "and of
the very best description. Sometimes we are favoured by the society
of the great Mr. Talbot, a gentleman of immense fortune and quite the
courtier: he is, it is true, a little eccentric in his dress: but then
he was a celebrated beau in his young days. He is our next neighbour;
you can see his house out of the window, just across the garden--there!
We have also, sometimes, our humble board graced by a very elegant
friend of mine, Miss Barbara York, a lady of very high connections, her
first cousin was a lord mayor.--Adolphus, my dear, what are you about?
Well, Mr. Linden, you will find your retreat quite undisturbed; I
must go about the household affairs; not that I do anything more
than superintend, you know, sir; but I think no lady should be above
consulting her husband's interests; that's what I call true old English
conjugal affection. Come, Adolphus, my dear."

And Clarence was now alone. "I fear," thought he, "that I shall get on
very indifferently with these people. But it will not do for me to be
misanthropical, and (as Dr. Latinas was wont to say) the great merit of
philosophy, when we cannot command circumstances, is to reconcile us to
them."

CHAPTER XII.

A retired beau is one of the most instructive spectacles in the world.
STEPHEN MONTAGUE.

It was quite true that Mrs. Copperas saw a great deal of company, for
at a certain charge, upon certain days, any individual might have the
honour of sharing her family repast; and many, of various callings,
though chiefly in commercial life, met at her miscellaneous board.
Clarence must, indeed, have been difficult to please, or obtuse
of observation, if, in the variety of her guests, he had not found
something either to interest or amuse him. Heavens! what a motley
group were accustomed, twice in the week, to assemble there! the little
dining-parlour seemed a human oven; and it must be owned that Clarence
was no slight magnet of attraction to the female part of the guests.
Mrs. Copperas's bosom friend in especial, the accomplished Miss Barbara
York, darted the most tender glances on the handsome young stranger;
but whether or not a nose remarkably prominent and long prevented the
glances from taking full effect, it is certain that Clarence seldom
repaid them with that affectionate ardour which Miss Barbara York had
ve