tranger, and none at all of a
gesture on the part of Mr Catesby as he introduced him--a momentary
stroking upwards of his forehead, intended as a sign not to Aubrey, but
to the other. The stranger, however, perfectly understood it. To him
it said, "Here is a simpleton: mind what you say."

Mr Catesby, the occupant of the furnished apartments, was a man of
unusually lofty height, being over six feet, and of slender build,
though well-proportioned; he had a handsome and expressive face, and,
while not eloquent, was possessed of the most fascinating and attractive
manners by which man ever dragged his fellow-man to evil. Mr Winter,
on the other hand, was as short as his friend was tall. His rather
handsome features were of the Grecian type, and he had the power of
infusing into them at will a look of the most touching child-like
innocence. He spoke five, languages, and was a well-read man for his
time.

The stranger, to whom Aubrey had been introduced as Mr Darcy, was an
older man than either of the others. Mr Catesby was aged thirty-two,
and Mr Winter about thirty-five; but Mr Darcy was at least fifty. He
was a well-proportioned man, and dressed with studied plainness. A
long, narrow face, with very large, heavy eyelids, and a long but not
hooked nose, were relieved by a moustache, and a beard square and
slightly forked in the midst. This moustache hid a mouth which was the
characteristic feature of the face. No physiognomist would have placed
the slightest confidence in the owner of that mouth. It was at once
sanctimonious and unstable. The manners of its possessor might be suave
or severe; his reputation might be excellent or execrable; but with that
mouth, a Pharisee and a hypocrite at heart he must be. This gentleman
found it convenient not to be too invariably known by a single name, and
that whereby he had been introduced to Aubrey was one of five aliases--
his real one making a sixth. Different persons, in various parts of the
country, were acquainted with him as Mr Mease, Mr Phillips, Mr
Farmer, and--his best-known alias--Mr Walley. But his real name was
Henry Garnet, and he was a Jesuit priest.

To do justice to Aubrey Louvaine, who, though weak and foolish, being
mainly led astray by his own self-sufficiency, was far from being
deliberately wicked, it must be added that he entertained not the least
idea of the real characters of his new friends. At the house of Mr
Thomas Rookwood, whither he w