here was some little undefinable coolness between old General
Chattesworth and Devereux. He admired the young fellow, and he liked
good blood in his corps, but somehow he was glad when he thought he was
likely to go. When old Bligh, of the Magazine, commended the handsome
young dog's good looks, the general would grow grave all at once, and
sniff once or twice, and say, 'Yes, a good-looking fellow certainly, and
might make a good officer, a mighty good officer, but he's wild, a
troublesome dog.' And, lowering his voice, 'I tell you what, colonel, as
long as a young buck sticks to his claret, it is all fair; but hang it,
you see, I'm afraid he likes other things, and he won't wait till after
dinner--this between ourselves, you know. 'Tis not a button to me, by
Jupiter, what he does or drinks, off duty; but hang it, I'm afraid some
day he'll break out; and once or twice in a friendly way, you know, I've
had to speak with him, and, to say truth, I'd rather he served under
anyone else. He's a fine fellow, 'tis a pity there should be anything
wrong, and it would half break my heart to have to take a public course
with him; not, you know, that it has ever come to anything like
that--but--but I've heard things--and--and he must pull up, or he'll not
do for the service.' So, though the thing did not amount to a scandal,
there was a formality between Devereux and his commanding officer, who
thought he saw bad habits growing apace, and apprehended that ere long
disagreeable relations might arise between them.

Lord Athenry had been no friend to Devereux in his nonage, and the
good-natured countess, to make amends, had always done her utmost to
spoil him, and given him a great deal more of his own way, as well as of
plum-cake, and Jamaica preserves, and afterwards a great deal more
money, than was altogether good for him. Like many a worse person, she
was a little bit capricious, and a good deal selfish; but the young
fellow was handsome. She was proud of his singularly good looks, and his
wickedness interested her, and she gave him more money than to all the
best public charities to which she contributed put together. Devereux,
indeed, being a fast man, with such acres as he inherited, which
certainly did not reach a thousand, mortgaged pretty smartly, and with
as much personal debt beside, of the fashionable and refined sort, as
became a young buck of bright though doubtful expectations--and if the
truth must be owned, sometimes