y!--the creature!--such baseness 1 but how
delightfully that dear, clever Mr. Lawless acted; he made love with such
_naive_ simplicity, too; he is quite irresistible."

"I shall take care to let him know your flattering opinion," returned
Oaklands with a faint attempt at a smile, while the gloom on his brow
grew deeper, and the Misses Simper were in their turn deserted; the
eldest gaining this slight addition to her worldly knowledge, viz., that
it is not always prudent to praise one friend to another, unless you
happen to be a little more behind the scenes than had been the case in
the present instance.

"Umph! Frank Fairlegh, where are you? come here, boy," said Mr.
Frampton, seizing one of my buttons, and towing me thereby into a
corner. "Pretty girl, your sister Fanny--nice girl, too--umph!"

"I am very glad she pleases you, sir," replied I; "as you become better
acquainted with her, you will find that she is as good as she looks--if
you like her now, you will soon grow very fond of her--everybody becomes
fond of Fanny."

"Umph! I can see one who is, at all events. Pray, sir, do you mean to
let your sister marry that good-natured, well-disposed, harum-scarum
young fool, Lawless?"

"This is a matter I leave entirely to themselves; if ~352~~ Lawless
wishes to marry Fanny, and she likes him well enough to accept him, and
his parents approve of the arrangement, I shall make no objection: it
would be a very good match for her."

"Umph! yes--she would make a very nice addition to his stud," returned
Mr. Frampton, in a more sarcastic tone than I had ever heard him use
before. "What do you suppose are the girl's own wishes? is she willing
to be Empress of the Stable?"

"Really, sir, you ask me a question which I am quite unable to answer;
young, ladies are usually reserved upon such subjects, and Fanny is
especially so; but from my own observations, I am inclined to think that
she likes him."

"Umph! dare say she does; women are always fools in these cases--men
too, for that matter--or else they would take pattern by me, and
continue in a state of single blessedness," then came an aside, "Single
wretchedness more likely, nobody to care about one--nothing to love--die
in a ditch like a beggar's dog, without a pocket-handkerchief wetted for
one--there's single blessedness for you! ride in a hearse, and have
some fat fool chuckling in the sleeve of his black coat over one's
hard-earned money. Nobody shall do that wit