INS,
with candlelight draperies. A demisaison elegance this--I hit off
yesterday--and--true, your la'ship's quite correct--out of the common,
completely. And, of course, you'd have the SPHYNX CANDELABRAS, and the
Phoenix argands. Oh! nothing else lights now, ma'am! Expense! Expense of
the whole! Impossible to calculate here on the spot!--but nothing at all
worth your ladyship's consideration!'

At another moment, Lord Colambre might have been amused with all this
rhodomontade, and with the airs and voluble conceit of the orator; but,
after what he had heard at Mr. Mordicai's, this whole scene struck him
more with melancholy than with mirth. He was alarmed by the prospect of
new and unbounded expense; provoked, almost past enduring, by the jargon
and impertinence of this upholsterer; mortified and vexed to the heart
to see his mother the dupe, the sport of such a coxcomb.

'Prince of puppies!--insufferable!--My own mother!' Lord Colambre
repeated to himself, as he walked hastily up and down the room.

'Colambre, won't you let us have your judgment--your TEESTE' said his
mother.

'Excuse me, ma'am. I have no taste, no judgment, in these things.'

He sometimes paused, and looked at Mr. Soho with a strong inclination
to--But knowing that he should say too much, if he said anything, he
was silent never dared to approach the council table--but continued
walking up and down the room, till he heard a voice, which at once
arrested his attention, and soothed his ire. He approached the table
instantly, and listened, whilst Grace Nugent said everything he wished
to have said, and with all the propriety and delicacy with which he
thought he could not have spoken. He leaned on the table, and fixed his
eyes upon her--years ago, he had seen his cousin--last night, he had
thought her handsome, pleasing, graceful--but now, he saw a new person,
or he saw her in a new light. He marked the superior intelligence,
the animation, the eloquence of her countenance, its variety, whilst
alternately, with arch raillery or grave humour, she played off Mr.
Soho, and made him magnify the ridicule, till it was apparent even to
Lady Clonbrony. He observed the anxiety, lest his mother should expose
her own foibles--he was touched by the respectful, earnest kindness--the
soft tones of persuasion, with which she addressed his mother--the care
not to presume upon her own influence--the good sense, the taste she
showed, yet not displaying her superiorit