y isn't he to do as he
plaises?" asked Geraghty.

"If the Duke of Middlesex did call himself Mr. Smith," said Bobbin,
"any gentleman that was a gentleman would fall in with his views."
Crocker, not conquered, but for the moment silenced, seated himself
in a dudgeon at his desk. It might do very well for poor fellows,
weak creatures like Jerningham, Bobbin, and Geraghty, thus to be done
out of their prey;--but he would not be cheated in that way. The Duca
di Crinola should be Duca di Crinola as far as he, Crocker, could
make his voice heard; and all that heard him should know that the
Duca was his own old peculiar friend.

In Paradise Row the world was decidedly against Roden; and not only
were the Demijohns and Duffers against him, but also his own mother
and her friend Mrs. Vincent. On the first Monday after Mrs. Roden's
return Mrs. Vincent came to the Row as usual,--on this occasion to
welcome her cousin, and to hear all the news of the family as it
had been at last brought back from Italy. There was a great deal to
be told. Many things had been brought to light which had had their
commencement in Mrs. Vincent's days. There was something of the
continuation of a mild triumph for her in every word that was spoken.
She had been against the Di Crinola marriage, when it had been
first discussed more than a quarter of a century ago. She had never
believed in the Duca di Crinola, and her want of faith had been
altogether justified. She did not, after all those years, bear hardly
on her friend,--but there was still that well-known tone of gentle
censure and of gentle self-applause. "I told you so," said the elder
crow to the younger crow. When does the old crow cease to remind the
younger crow that it was so? "A sad, sad story," said Mrs. Vincent,
shaking her head.

"All our stories I suppose have much in them that is sad. I have got
my son, and no mother can have more reason to be proud of a son."
Mrs. Vincent shook her head. "I say it is so," repeated the mother;
"and having such a son, I will not admit that it has all been sad."

"I wish he were more ready to perform his religious duties," said
Mrs. Vincent.

"We cannot all agree about everything. I do not know that that need
be brought up now."

"It is a matter that should be brought up every hour and every day,
Mary,--if the bringing of it up is to do any good."

But it was not on this matter that Mrs. Roden now wished to get
assistance from her cousin;--certa