CHAPTER XVII.
Mr.Ascott was sitting half asleep in his solitary dining room, his face rosy with wine, his heart warmed also, probably from the same cause.

Not that he was in the least "tipsy"-- that low-word applicable only to low people, and not men of property, who have a right to enjoy all the good things of this life.

He was scarcely even "merry," merely "comfortable," in that cozy, benevolent state which middle aged or elderly gentlemen are apt to fall into after a good dinner and good wine, when they have no mental resources, and the said good dinner and good wine constitutes their best notion of felicity.
Yet wealth and comfort are not things to be despised.

Hilary herself was not insensible to the pleasantness of this warm, well-lit, crimson-atmosphered apartment.

She as well as her neighbors liked pretty things about her, soft, harmonious colors to look at and wear, well-cooked food to eat, cheerful rooms to live in.