ler is looked upon as a bird of passage, whose visit is short, and
which the vanity of the visited wishes to make agreeable. All is
show, all false, and all made up. Coterie succeeds coterie, equally
smiling--the explosions take place in his absence. Even a grand passion,
which teaches a man more, perhaps, than anything else, is not very
easily excited by the traveller. The women know that, sooner or later,
he must disappear; and though this is the case with all lovers, they do
not like to miss the possibility of delusion. Thus the heroines keep in
the background, and the visitor, who is always in a hurry, falls into
the net of the first flirtation that offers.

The Duke of St. James had, however, acquired a great knowledge; if
not of mankind, at any rate of manners. He had visited all Courts, and
sparkled in the most brilliant circles of the Continent. He returned to
his own country with a taste extremely refined, a manner most polished,
and a person highly accomplished.

CHAPTER III.

_The Duke Returns_

A SORT of scrambling correspondence had been kept up between the young
Duke and his cousin, Lord St. Maurice, who had for a few months been his
fellow-traveller. By virtue of these epistles, notice of the movements
of their interesting relative occasionally reached the circle at
Fitz-pompey House, although St. Maurice was scanty in the much-desired
communications; because, like most young Englishmen, he derived
singular pleasure from depriving his fellow-creatures of all that small
information which every one is so desirous to obtain. The announcement,
however, of the approaching arrival of the young Duke was duly made.
Lord Fitz-pompey wrote and offered apartments at Fitz-pompey House. They
were refused. Lord Fitz-pompey wrote again to require instructions for
the preparation of Hauteville House. His letter was unanswered. Lord
Fitz-pompey was quite puzzled.

'When does your cousin mean to come, Charles?' 'Where does your cousin
mean to go, Charles?' 'What does your cousin mean to do, Charles?' These
were the hourly queries of the noble uncle.

At length, in the middle of January, when no one expected him, the Duke
of St. James arrived at Mivart's.

He was attended by a French cook, an Italian valet, a German jaeger, and
a Greek page. At this dreary season of the year this party was, perhaps,
the most distinguished in the metropolis.

Three years' absence and a little knowledge of life had somewha