rger proportion of the
idle and licentious of the exclusive caste, than could be found in any
other suite of drawing-rooms in civilized Europe. Her _salon_ was in
fact crowded with busy ranks of those swindlers of distinction who,
in opposition to their brethren of lower pretensions, (the chevaliers
d'industrie), ought surely to be termed the chevaliers de la paresse.
Among these, the brilliant air and lively effrontery of Captain Kendal
secured him a warm acceptance; and by frequenting the circle of Lady
Emlyn, he had not only the gratification of escaping from the insipid
mediocrity of the home his vices had created, but acquired the power
of indulging in others which were now still dearer to his heart.

"Vavasor Kendal was an expert player. Like other frigid egotists, his
head and heart were always at leisure; and his successes had been
the means, on more than one occasion, of extending his means of
disgraceful enjoyment. At least, however, his career lay on the
verge of a precipice; for playing at a stake beyond the limit of his
fortune, a single faltering step might at any hour precipitate him
into an abyss of shame and ruin. Amelia was often tempted to doubt
whether she had more cause to dread that intoxication of triumph,
which induced him to still further excesses, or the reverses tending
to aggravate the violence of temper to which she was an habitual
victim. The fluctuating fortunes of the gamester,--his losses or
gains,--were equally a source of suffering to herself. But the
Carnival was drawing to a close; she soon began ardently to wish that
his sister might grow weary of the increasing dulness of the French
capital, and migrate among other swallows of the season, in search of
new pleasures.

"Long had she been in expectation of an announcement to this effect,
when one night,--a cold cheerless night in March,--Vavasor exceeded
even his ordinary period of absence. The habitually dissolute of Paris
rarely keep late hours. Vice does not form with _them_, as with the
English _roue_, an occasional excess, but is consistent and regular
in its habits. Captain Kendal usually returned home between two and
three; and Amelia was accustomed to sit up, and by her own services
lighten the labours of their scanty establishment. It was _she_, the
invalid, who was careful to keep up light and fire for the tyrant of
the domestic hearth.

"But on this occasion two o'clock came,--three, four, five
o'clock,--and no Vavasor.