enough to have thought
only of themselves and the awkwardness of their own position. Purvis,
on the contrary, had an eye for everything; from the chandeliers on the
walls to the crosses on the dress-coats, from the decorations of the
salons to the diamonds, he missed nothing; and with such impartial
fairness did he bestow his glances, that the Cardinal's cheeks grew red
as his own stockings as Scroope surveyed him. 'At last he reached the
end of the great drawing-room, and found himself standing in front of
the canopied seat where the Archduke sat with Lady Hester. Not heeding,
if he even remarked, the little circle which etiquette had drawn in
front of the Prince, Purvis advanced within the charmed precincts and
stared steadily at the Duke.

[Illustration: 420]

"I perceive that one of your friends is most anxious to pay his respects
to you, Lady Hester," said the Prince, with a very peculiar smile.

"I beg to assure you, sir, that the gentleman is unknown to me; his
presence here is an honor for which I am totally unprepared."

"My name is Purvis, madam, Sc-Sc-Scroope Purvis. Miss Dalton knows me;
and my sister is Mrs. Ricketts."

"You will find Miss Dalton yonder, sir," said Lady Hester, all whose
efforts were barely sufficient to restrain her temper.

"I see her!" cried Purvis, putting his glass up; "but she 's trying to
escape me. She 's got a man with a re-re-red beard before her, but it
won't do, I'm too sh-sh-sharp for that."

The Archduke laughed, and heartily, too, at this sally; and Purvis,
emboldened by the complaisance, edged more closely towards him to point
out the lady in question. "She has a droll kind of sc-sc-scarf in her
hair. There! don't you see her now? Have you ever seen the pictures in
the Pitti Palace?"

The question was a little startling, as the personage to whom it was
addressed had his residence there. The Archduke, however, merely bowed
in acquiescence, and Purvis went on: "My sister Zoe copied one and I
like it better than the Ti-Tit-Titian itself. We smoked it, too, and
made it look so brown, you'd never guess it to be mo-mo-mo-modern."

To judge from the bewildered look of the Duke, the whole of this speech
was pure Chaldee to him; and when he turned to Lady Hester for an
explanation, he discovered that she had left her seat. Whether mistaking
the motion as an invitation to be seated, or merely acting by his own
impulses, Scroope crossed over and sat down on the sofa with a d