I dare say. And when I think
of it, how grateful I ought to feel to his father and mother, who
produced him quite in their old age; for if he had not been born, I
should have been the most miserable of men,--yes, positively, that
horrible marquisate would have come to me! I never think over Horace
Walpole's regrets, when he got the earldom of Orford, without the
deepest sympathy, and without a shudder at the thought of what my dear
Lady Castleton was kind enough to save me from,--all owing to the Ems
waters, after twenty years' marriage! Well, my young friend, and how are
all at home?"

As when, some notable performer not having yet arrived behind the
scenes, or having to change his dress, or not having yet quite recovered
an unlucky extra tumbler of exciting fluids, and the green curtain has
therefore unduly delayed its ascent, you perceive that the thorough-bass
in the orchestra charitably devotes himself to a prelude of astonishing
prolixity, calling in "Lodoiska" or "Der Freischutz" to beguile the
time, and allow the procrastinating histrio leisure sufficient to draw
on his flesh-colored pantaloons and give himself the proper complexion
for a Coriolanus or Macbeth,--even so had Sir Sedley made that long
speech requiring no rejoinder, till he saw the time had arrived when
he could artfully close, with the flourish of a final interrogative, in
order to give poor Pisistratus Caxton all preparation to compose himself
and step forward. There is certainly something of exquisite kindness and
thoughtful benevolence in that rarest of gifts,--fine breeding; and when
now, re-manned and resolute, I turned round and saw Sir Sedley's soft
blue eye shyly, but benignantly, turned to me, while, with a grace no
other snuff-taker ever had since the days of Pope, he gently proceeded
to refresh himself by a pinch of the celebrated Beaudesert mixture,--I
felt my heart as gratefully moved towards him as if he had conferred on
me some colossal obligation. And this crowning question, "And how are
all at home?" restored me entirely to my self-possession, and for the
moment distracted the bitter current of my thoughts.

I replied by a brief statement of my father's involvement, disguising
our apprehensions as to its extent, speaking of it rather as an
annoyance than a possible cause of ruin, and ended by asking Sir Sedley
to give me the address of Trevanion's lawyer.

The good baronet listened with great attention; and that quick
penetrat