my lord, and with such energy; so few
young men of the present day look to what I call good connexion. In
marrying, a man does not, to be sure, marry his wife's mother; and yet
a prudent man, when he begins to think of the daughter, would look sharp
at the mother; ay, and back to the grandmother too, and along the whole
female line of ancestry.'

'True--most true--he ought he must.'

'And I have a notion,' said the count, smiling, 'your lordship's
practice has been conformable to your theory.'

'I!--mine!' said Lord Colambre, starling, and looking at the count with
surprise.

'I beg your pardon,' said the count; 'I did not intend to surprise your
confidence. But you forget that I was present, and saw the impression
which was made on your mind by a mother's want of a proper sense of
delicacy and propriety--Lady Dashfort.'

'Oh, Lady Dashfort! she was quite out of my head.'

'And Lady Isabel?--I hope she is quite out of your heart.'

'She never was in it,' said Lord Colambre.

'Only laid siege to it,' said the count. 'Well, I am glad your heart did
not surrender at discretion, or rather without discretion. Then I may
tell you, without fear or preface, that the Lady Isabel, who "talks
of refinement, delicacy, sense," is going to stoop at once, and
marry--Heathcock.'

Lord Colambre was not surprised, but concerned and disgusted, as he
always felt, even when he did not care for the individual, from hearing
anything which tended to lower the female sex in public estimation.

'As to myself,' said he, 'I cannot say I have had an escape, for I don't
think I ever was in much danger.'

'It is difficult to measure danger when it is over--past danger, like
past pain, is soon forgotten,' said the old general. 'At all events, I
rejoice in your present safety.'

'But is she really going to be married to Heathcock?' said Lord
Colambre.

'Positively; they all came over in the same packet with me, and they are
all in town now, buying jewels, and equipages, and horses. Heathcock,
you know, is as good as another man, A PEU PRES, for all those purposes;
his father is dead, and left him a large estate. QUE VOULEZ VOUS? as the
French valet said to me on the occasion. C'EST QUE MONSIEUR EST UN HOMME
DE BIEN: IL A DES BIENS, A CE QU'ON DIT.'

Lord Colambre could not help smiling. 'How they got Heathcock to fall
in love is what puzzles me,' said his lordship. 'I should as soon have
thought of an oyster's falling in love as that