hings, she did not speak as with taste or distaste
of any. The world seemed to flow under her observation without even
ruffling the surface of her interior thoughts. This perplexed his
versatile lordship. He thought the young lady would be a subject worth
studying: it was clear that she was a character. So far so well. He felt
that he should not rest satisfied till he was able to define it.

[Illustration: Mr. Pallet devoted to the Scenery 141-108]

The theatre made rapid progress. The walls were completed. The building
was roofed in. The stage portion was so far finished as to allow Mr.
Pallet to devote every morning to the scenery. The comedy was completed.
The music was composed. The rehearsals went on with vigour, but for the
present in the drawing-rooms.

[Illustration: Lord Curryfin swinging over the stage 144-108]

Miss Niphet, returning one morning from a walk before breakfast, went
into the theatre to see its progress, and found Lord Curryfin swinging
over the stage on a seat suspended by long ropes from above the visible
scene. He did not see her. He was looking upwards, not as one indulging
in an idle pastime, but as one absorbed in serious meditation. All at
once the seat was drawn up, and he disappeared in the blue canvas that
represented the sky. She was not aware that gymnastics were to form part
of the projected entertainment, and went away, associating the idea of
his lordship, as many had done before, with something like a feeling of
the ludicrous.

Miss Niphet was not much given to laughter, but whenever she looked
at Lord Curryfin during breakfast she could not quite suppress a smile
which hovered on her lips, and which was even the more forced on her by
the contrast between his pantomimic disappearance and his quiet courtesy
and remarkably good manners in company. The lines of Dryden--

A man so various, that he seemed to be
Not one, but all mankind's epitome,

--passed through her mind as she looked at him.

Lord Curryfin noticed the suppressed smile, but did not apprehend that
it had any relation to himself. He thought some graceful facetiousness
had presented itself to the mind of the young lady, and that she was
amusing herself with her own fancy. It was, however, to him another
touch of character, that lighted up her statuesque countenance with
a new and peculiar beauty. By degrees her features resumed their
accustomed undisturbed serenity. Lord Curryfin felt satisfi