ews on public affairs! This absurd imposture positively
went the round of the table, received and respected by everybody with a
stolid solemnity of make-believe which it was downright shameful to
see. Not a man present said, "I saw that today in the _Times_ or the
_Telegraph."_ Not a man present had an opinion of his own; or, if he
had an opinion, ventured to express it; or, if he knew nothing of the
subject, was honest enough to say so. One enormous Sham, and everybody
in a conspiracy to take it for the real thing: that is an accurate
description of the state of political feeling among the representative
men at Mr. Farnaby's dinner. I am not judging rashly by one example
only; I have been taken to clubs and public festivals, only to hear over
and over again what I heard in Mr. Farnaby's dining-room. Does it need
any great foresight to see that such a state of things as this cannot
last much longer, in a country which has not done with reforming itself
yet? The time is coming, in England, when the people who _have_ opinions
of their own will be heard, and when Parliament will be forced to open
the door to them.

This is a nice outbreak of republican freedom! What does my
long-suffering friend think of it--waiting all the time to be presented
to Mr. Farnaby's niece? Everything in its place, Rufus. The niece
followed the politics, at the time; and she shall follow them now.

You shall hear first what my next neighbour said of her--a quaint old
fellow, a retired doctor, if I remember correctly. He seemed to be as
weary of the second-hand newspaper talk as I was; he quite sparkled
and cheered up when I introduced the subject of Miss Regina. Have I
mentioned her name yet? If not, here it is for you in full:--Miss Regina
Mildmay.

"I call her the brown girl," said the old gentleman. "Brown hair, brown
eyes, and a brown skin. No, not a brunette; not dark enough for that--a
warm, delicate brown; wait till you see it! Takes after her father, I
should tell you. He was a fine-looking man in his time; foreign blood
in his veins, by his mother's side. Miss Regina gets her queer name by
being christened after his mother. Never mind her name; she's a charming
person. Let's drink her health."

We drank her health. Remembering that he had called her "the brown
girl," I said I supposed she was still quite young.

"Better than young," the doctor answered; "in the prime of life. I call
her a girl, by habit. Wait till you see her!"