seize her
hand, which she coyly drew back, and uttering things sweeter and more
polished than she had ever listened to before. At this moment Welford
softly entered; he was unnoticed by either; and he stood at the door
contemplating them with a smile of calm and self-hugging derision. The
face of Mephistopheles regarding Margaret and Faust might suggest some
idea of the picture we design to paint; but the countenance of Welford
was more lofty, as well as comelier, in character, though not less
malignant in expression, than that which the incomparable Retsch has
given to the mocking fiend. So utter, so congratulatory, so lordly was
the contempt on Welford's dark and striking features, that though he
was in that situation in which ridicule usually attaches itself to the
husband, it was the gallant and the wife that would have appeared to the
beholder in a humiliating and unenviable light.

After a momentary pause Welford approached with a heavy step. The wife
started; but with a bland and smooth expression, which since his sojourn
in the town of had been rarely visible in his aspect, the host joined
the pair, smiled on the nurse, and congratulated the patient on his
progress towards recovery. The nobleman, well learned in the usages
of the world, replied easily and gayly; and the conversation flowed
on cheerfully enough till the wife, who had sat abstracted and apart,
stealing ever and anon timid glances towards her husband and looks of a
softer meaning towards the patient, retired from the room. Welford
then gave a turn to the conversation; he reminded the nobleman of the
pleasant days they had passed in Italy,--of the adventures they had
shared, and the intrigues they had enjoyed. As the conversation warmed,
it assumed a more free and licentious turn; and not a little, we ween,
would the good folks of -----have been amazed, could they have listened
to the gay jests and the libertine maxims which flowed from the thin
lips of that cold and severe Welford, whose countenance gave the lie to
mirth. Of women in general they spoke with that lively contempt which is
the customary tone with men of the world; only in Welford it assumed
a bitterer, a deeper, and a more philosophical cast than it did in his
more animated yet less energetic guest.

The nobleman seemed charmed with his friend; the conversation was just
to his taste; and when Welford had supported him up to bed, he shook
that person cordially by the hand, and hoped h