m.
Well, as to society--'

'Virginia says he is hardly ever to be had; he is either at the House,
or he has something to do for his father; he slips out of parties, and
they never catch him unless they are in great want of a gentleman to
take them somewhere, and then no one is so useful. Mamma has been
setting innumerable little traps for him, but he marches straight
through them all, and only a little tone of irony betrays that he sees
through them. Every one likes him, and the only complaint is, that he
is so seldom to be seen, keeping almost entirely to his father's set,
always with his father--'

'Ay! I can bear to watch his submission better than formerly. His
attentions are in such perfect good taste that they are quite
beautiful; and his lordship has quite ceased snubbing, and begins to
have a glimmering that when Louis says something never dreamt of in his
philosophy, the defect may be in his understanding, and not in
Fitzjocelyn's.'

'I could excuse him for not always understanding Fitzjocelyn! But
there never were two kinder people in the world; and I could not have
imagined that I should ever like Lord Ormersfield half so much.'

'He is improved. Louis's exclusive devotion has not been lost on him.
Holdsworth has been sitting with me, and talking of the great change in
the parish. He told me that at his first arrival here, seven years
ago, when he was very young, he found himself quite disheartened and
disgusted by the respectability of the place. Every one was cold,
distant, correct, and self-esteeming; so perfectly contented with
themselves and the routine, that he felt all his ardour thrown away,
and it seemed to him that he was pastor to a steam-engine--a mere item
in the proprieties of Ormersfield. He was almost ready to exchange,
out of weariness and impatience, when Fitzjocelyn came home, and awoke
fresh life and interest by his absurdities, his wonderful
philanthropies, and extraordinary schemes. His sympathy and earnestness
were the first refreshment and encouragement; and Holdsworth declares
that no one can guess the benefit that he was to him even when he was
most ridiculous. Since that, he says, the change has been striking,
though so gradual. Louis has all the same freshness and energy, but
without the fluctuation and impetuosity. And his example of humility
and sincerity has worked, not only in reclaiming the wild outlying
people, but even awakening the comfortable dependents from