ce
with the singular contradictions of which his character was made up, he
was willing to incur every sacrifice of personal inconvenience, if it
only served to astonish some one, or excite a sensation of surprise
at his good-nature; and while all Nelly's efforts were to conceal the
inconveniences these hospitalities inflicted, Peter was never satisfied
except when the display could reflect honor on himself, and exact
a tribute of flattery from his guests. Nor was he all this time in
ignorance of Mrs. Ricketts's character. With native shrewdness be had at
once detected her as an "old soldier." He saw the practised readiness
of her compliance with everything; he saw the spirit of accommodation
in which she met every plan or project. He knew the precise value of her
softest look or her sweetest smile; and yet he was quite content with
possessing the knowledge, without any desire to profit by it. Like one
who sits down to play with sharpers, and resolves that either the stake
shall be a trifle or the roguery be very limited, he surrendered himself
to the fair Zoe's seductions with this sort of a reservation to guide
him.

If Mrs. Ricketts did not cheat him by her goodness, she took her revenge
by the claims of her grandeur. Her intimacy with great people--the very
greatest--exalted her to the highest place in Dalton's esteem. Honest
Peter knew nothing of the years of toil and pain, the subtle arts, the
deep devices, the slights, the affronts, the stern rebuffs here, the
insolent denials there, by which these acquisitions, precarious as
they were, had been won. He did not know how much of the royalty was
left-handed, nor how much of the nobility was factitious. All he could
see was the gracious salutes wafted to her from coroneted carriages, the
soft smiles wafted from high places, the recognitions bestowed on her in
the promenade, and the gracious nods that met her in the Cursaal.

Mrs. Ricketts was perfect in all the skill of this peculiar game, and
knew how, by the most ostentatious display of respect in public, not
only to exalt the illustrious person--age who deigned to acknowledge
her, but also to attach notice to herself as the individual so highly
favored. What reverential courtesies would she drop before the presence
of some small German "Hochheit," with a gambling-house for a palace, and
a roulette-table for an exchequer! What devotional observances would
she perform in front of the chair of some snuffy old Dowage