as I heard these words, and
stepping close up beside him, I said slowly and distinctly--

'I thought, sir, that one lesson might have taught you with whom these
liberties were practicable.'

As I said thus much the door opened, and his grace the Duke of York
appeared. Abashed at having so far forgotten where I was, I stood
motionless and crimson for shame. Lord Dudley, on the contrary, bowed
reverently to his Royal Highness, without the slightest evidence of
discomposure or irritation, his easy smile curling his lip.

The duke turned from one to the other of us without speaking, his dark
eyes piercing, as it were, into our very hearts. 'Lord Dudley de Vere,'
said he at length, 'I have signed your appointment. Mr. Hinton, I am
sorry to find that the voice I have heard more than once within the last
five minutes, in an angry tone, was yours. Take care, sir, that this
forgetfulness does not grow upon you. The colonel of the Twenty-seventh
is not the person to overlook it, I promise you.'

'If your Royal Highness----'

'I must entreat you to spare me any explanations. You are gazetted
to the Twenty-seventh. I hope you will hold yourself in readiness for
immediate embarkation. Where's the detachment, Sir Howard?'

'At Chatham, your Royal Highness,' replied an old officer behind the
duke's shoulder. At the same moment his grace passed through the room,
conversing as he went with different persons about him.

As I turned away, I met Lord Dudley's eyes. They were riveted on me with
an expression of triumphant malice I had never seen in them before, and
I hurried homeward with a heart crushed and wounded.

I have but one reason for the mention of this trivial incident. It is to
show how often the studied courtesy, the well-practised deception,
that the fashion of the world teaches, will prevail over the heartfelt,
honest indignation which deep feeling evinces; and what a vast
superiority the very affectation of temper confers, in the judgment of
others who stand by the game of life and care nothing for the players at
either side. Let no one suspect me of lauding the mockery of virtue in
what I say here. I would merely impress on the young man who can feel
for the deep sorrow and abasement I suffered the importance of the
attainment of that self-command, of that restraint over any outbreak of
passion, when the very semblance of it insures respect and admiration.

It is very difficult to witness with indifference the pre