Mr.and Mrs.Mervale, lately returned from an excursion to Weymouth, are in the drawing-room,--"the dame sat on this side, the man sat on that." "Yes, I assure you, my dear, that Glyndon, with all his eccentricities, was a very engaging, amiable fellow.

You would certainly have liked him,--all the women did." "My dear Thomas, you will forgive the remark,--but that expression of yours, 'all the WOMEN'-- " "I beg your pardon,--you are right.

I meant to say that he was a general favourite with your charming sex." "I understand,--rather a frivolous character." "Frivolous! no, not exactly; a little unsteady,--very odd, but certainly not frivolous; presumptuous and headstrong in character, but modest and shy in his manners, rather too much so,--just what you like.

However, to return; I am seriously uneasy at the accounts I have heard of him to-day.

He has been living, it seems, a very strange and irregular life, travelling from place to place, and must have spent already a great deal of money." "Apropos of money," said Mrs.Mervale; "I fear we must change our butcher; he is certainly in league with the cook." "That is a pity; his beef is remarkably fine.