Many a passer-by thought Miss Arundel was listening to some subject of most touching interest: his Lordship was only detailing the benefit he derived one wet day from his caoutchouc cloak. The truth is, Lord Merton was, simply, naturally and intensely selfish; he was himself "the ocean of his thoughts;" he never considered the comfort of other people, because he never looked at it as distinct from his own; and the most romantic devotion, the most self-denying love, would have seemed, if he were the object of it, as quite in the common course of things.
This is a common character, which age alone developes into deformity. Youth, like charity, covers a multitude of sins; but Heaven help the wife, children, servants, and all other pieces of domestic property, when such a man is fifty, and has the gout!
It is an ill wind that blows nobody any good—and Lady Walsingham was made happy by the sincerity and warmth with which Lord Merton assured her he was delighted with her entertainment, and especially charmed with the jugglers and minstrels.
Emily now pleaded fatigue, and seeing Lady Alicia seated on a most rural-looking bench,
