e good reason to remember his presence there, for this
was the last time I saw him.

He did not sit near me at dinner; for it was his fate to hand in a
capacious old dowager, and mine to be handed in by Mr. Grimsby, a friend
of his, but a man I very greatly disliked: there was a sinister cast in
his countenance, and a mixture of lurking ferocity and fulsome
insincerity in his demeanour, that I could not away with. What a
tiresome custom that is, by-the-by--one among the many sources of
factitious annoyance of this ultra-civilised life. If the gentlemen must
lead the ladies into the dining-room, why cannot they take those they
like best?

I am not sure, however, that Mr. Huntingdon would have taken me, if he
had been at liberty to make his own selection. It is quite possible he
might have chosen Miss Wilmot; for she seemed bent upon engrossing his
attention to herself, and he seemed nothing loth to pay the homage she
demanded. I thought so, at least, when I saw how they talked and
laughed, and glanced across the table, to the neglect and evident umbrage
of their respective neighbours--and afterwards, as the gentlemen joined
us in the drawing-room, when she, immediately upon his entrance, loudly
called upon him to be the arbiter of a dispute between herself and
another lady, and he answered the summons with alacrity, and decided the
question without a moment's hesitation in her favour--though, to my
thinking, she was obviously in the wrong--and then stood chatting
familiarly with her and a group of other ladies; while I sat with
Milicent Hargrave at the opposite end of the room, looking over the
latter's drawings, and aiding her with my critical observations and
advice, at her particular desire. But in spite of my efforts to remain
composed, my attention wandered from the drawings to the merry group, and
against my better judgment my wrath rose, and doubtless my countenance
lowered; for Milicent, observing that I must be tired of her daubs and
scratches, begged I would join the company now, and defer the examination
of the remainder to another opportunity. But while I was assuring her
that I had no wish to join them, and was not tired, Mr. Huntingdon
himself came up to the little round table at which we sat.

'Are these yours?' said he, carelessly taking up one of the drawings.

'No, they are Miss Hargrave's.'

'Oh! well, let's have a look at them.'

And, regardless of Miss Hargrave's protestations that they w