to himself in rank; and had received the last finish at a
very small hall at Oxford. In addition to these advantages, he had been
indebted to nature for a person five feet eight inches high, and stout
in proportion; for hair very short, very straight, and of a red hue,
which even through powder cast out a yellow glow; for an obstinate
dogged sort of nose, beginning in snub, and ending in bottle; for cold,
small, gray eyes, a very small mouth, pinched up and avaricious; and
very large, very freckled, yet rather white hands, the nails of which
were punctiliously cut into a point every other day, with a pair of
scissors which Mr. Glumford often boasted had been in his possession
since his eighth year; namely, for about thirty-two legitimate
revolutions of the sun.

He was one of those persons who are equally close and adventurous; who
love the eclat of a little speculation, but take exceeding good care
that it should be, in their own graceful phrase, "on the safe side of
the hedge." In pursuance of this characteristic of mind, he had
resolved to fall in love with Miss Isabel St. Leger; for she being very
dependent, he could boast to her of his disinterestedness, and hope that
she would be economical through a principle of gratitude; and being
the nearest relation to the opulent General St. Leger and his unmarried
sister there seemed to be every rational probability of her inheriting
the bulk of their fortunes. Upon these hints of prudence spake Mr.
George Glumford.

Now, when Isabel, partly in her ingenuous frankness, partly from the
passionate promptings of her despair, revealed to him her attachment to
another, and her resolution never, with her own consent, to become his,
it seemed to the slow but not uncalculating mind of Mr. Glumford not by
any means desirable that he should forego his present intentions, but
by all means desirable that he should make this reluctance of Isabel
an excuse for sounding the intentions and increasing the posthumous
liberality of the East Indian and his sister.

"The girl is of my nearest blood," said the Major-General, "and if I
don't leave my fortune to her, who the devil should I leave it to, sir?"
and so saying, the speaker, who was in a fell paroxysm of the gout,
looked so fiercely at the hinting wooer that Mr. George Glumford, who
was no Achilles, was somewhat frightened, and thought it expedient to
hint no more.

"My brother," said Miss Diana, "is so odd; but he is the most gener