But, seeing you with her--but there, you are a stranger.' Soane would have liked to ask him his meaning, but felt that he had condescended enough.

He bade the man a curt good-night, therefore, and turning away passed quickly into St.Aldate's Street.

Thence it was but a step to the Mitre, where he found his baggage and servant awaiting him.
In those days distinctions of dress were still clear and unmistakable.
Between the peruke--often forty guineas' worth--the tie-wig, the scratch, and the man who went content with a little powder, the intervals were measurable.

Ruffles cost five pounds a pair; and velvets and silks, cut probably in Paris, were morning wear.

Moreover, the dress of the man who lost or won his thousand in a night at Almack's, and was equally well known at Madame du Deffand's in Paris and at Holland House, differed as much from the dress of the ordinary well-to-do gentleman as that again differed from the lawyer's or the doctor's.