who
had demurred as to calling on the old miser's son, and who were
astonished at the kind of tone he assumed. They, who had been gravely
considering whether they could possibly shake hands with him, found
themselves on a level with, if not beneath him, at once, by mere
effrontery. There is some truth in the saying that, 'Accordingly as you
think of yourself, others will think of you;' and impudence and riches
combined, together with a certain amount of talent and personal
appearance, can overcome vast worldly obstacles. Besides did he not
bring an unmarried baronet with him--one of the very ancient family of
Spendalls--and the son and daughter of a man of title, and a captain of
the dragoon guards? to say nothing of that fashionable widow, reputed a
fortune. And were there not plenty of young ladies, poor if proud, in
the county, wanting partners, either for dancing or life, or both?

After that evening, people sneered at home perhaps, but they called and
invited and made much of the master and mistress of Plas Abertewey,
forgetting or ignoring their origin.

Netta, too, obeyed Howel's last injunction to the best of her ability.
Her youth and beauty were greatly in her favour, and her affectation
covered the shyness and awkwardness that she felt in being suddenly
thrown amongst people upon whom she had formerly looked with awe. The
Nugents were there, but the Gwynnes were absent, and she had the
pleasure of feeling that she had as many, if not more, partners than the
heiress, Miss Nugent, and was much more grandly dressed. As for Miss
Rice Rice, she fell quite into the shade before her.

Her old friend, Sir Hugh Pryse, was particularly attentive, and talked
to her of Miss Gwynne; and Captain Dancy was as much devoted to her
abroad as at home. Her head was quite turned, and nothing but the
consciousness that Howel was present kept it on her shoulders at all;
but the fear of a lecture for some mistake in manners kept her so much
on her guard, that she got through the evening wonderfully, and achieved
what Mme. Duvet called _un grand succes_.

And Howel danced, and talked, and introduced his friends, and patronised
everybody, much as if he had been a feudal monarch amongst his barons.
Here and there might have been seen a suppressed smile, as one of the
company whispered to another, 'Where is Mrs Griffey Jenkins to-night?
What would old Griff, the miser, say to those diamonds? I wonder his
very ghost doesn't appear?'