he folded it in
narrower compass; he made of it a handsome band. To what purpose would
he proceed to apply the ligature? Would he wrap it about his throat--his
head? Should it be a comforter or a turban? Neither. Peter Augustus had
an inventive, an original genius. He was about to show the ladies graces
of action possessing at least the charm of novelty. He sat on the chair
with his athletic Irish legs crossed, and these legs, in that attitude,
he circled with the bandana and bound firmly together. It was evident
he felt this device to be worth an encore; he repeated it more than
once. The second performance sent Shirley to the window, to laugh her
silent but irrepressible laugh unseen; it turned Caroline's head aside,
that her long curls might screen the smile mantling on her features.
Miss Helstone, indeed, was amused by more than one point in Peter's
demeanour. She was edified at the complete though abrupt diversion of
his homage from herself to the heiress. The L5,000 he supposed her
likely one day to inherit were not to be weighed in the balance against
Miss Keeldar's estate and hall. He took no pains to conceal his
calculations and tactics. He pretended to no gradual change of views; he
wheeled about at once. The pursuit of the lesser fortune was openly
relinquished for that of the greater. On what grounds he expected to
succeed in his chase himself best knew; certainly not by skilful
management.

From the length of time that elapsed, it appeared that John had some
difficulty in persuading Mr. Donne to descend. At length, however, that
gentleman appeared; nor, as he presented himself at the oak-parlour
door, did he seem in the slightest degree ashamed or confused--not a
whit. Donne, indeed, was of that coldly phlegmatic, immovably
complacent, densely self-satisfied nature which is insensible to shame.
He had never blushed in his life; no humiliation could abash him; his
nerves were not capable of sensation enough to stir his life and make
colour mount to his cheek; he had no fire in his blood and no modesty in
his soul; he was a frontless, arrogant, decorous slip of the
commonplace--conceited, inane, insipid; and this gentleman had a notion
of wooing Miss Keeldar! He knew no more, however, how to set about the
business than if he had been an image carved in wood. He had no idea of
a taste to be pleased, a heart to be reached in courtship. His notion
was, when he should have formally visited her a few times, to wr