l; but then there are delights which cannot be created
even by money and taste.

It was a pleasant sight to see, the long, broad, well-filled
breakfast table, with all that company round it. There were some
eighteen or twenty gathered now at the table, among whom the judge
sat pre-eminent, looming large in an arm-chair and having a double
space allotted to him;--some eighteen or twenty, children included.
At the bottom of the table sat Lady Staveley, who still chose to
preside among her own tea cups as a lady should do; and close to her,
assisting in the toils of that presidency, sat her daughter Madeline.
Nearest to them were gathered the children, and the rest had formed
themselves into little parties, each of which already well knew its
own place at the board. In how very short a time will come upon one
that pleasant custom of sitting in an accustomed place! But here, at
these Noningsby breakfasts, among other customs already established,
there was one by which Augustus Staveley was always privileged to
sit by the side of Sophia Furnival. No doubt his original object was
still unchanged. A match between that lady and his friend Graham was
still desirable, and by perseverance he might pique Felix Graham to
arouse himself. But hitherto Felix Graham had not aroused himself in
that direction, and one or two people among the party were inclined
to mistake young Staveley's intentions.

"Gus," his sister had said to him the night before, "I declare I
think you are going to make love to Sophia Furnival."

"Do you?" he had replied. "As a rule I do not think there is any one
in the world for whose discernment I have so much respect as I have
for yours. But in this respect even you are wrong."

"Ah, of course you say so."

"If you won't believe me, ask her. What more can I say?"

"I certainly sha'n't ask her, for I don't know her well enough."

"She's a very clever girl; let me tell you that, whoever falls in
love with her."

"I'm sure she is, and she is handsome too, very; but for all that she
is not good enough for our Gus."

"Of course she is not, and therefore I am not thinking of her. And
now go to bed and dream that you have got the Queen of the Fortunate
Islands for your sister-in-law."

But although Staveley was himself perfectly indifferent to all the
charms of Miss Furnival, nevertheless he could hardly restrain his
dislike to Lucius Mason, who, as he thought, was disposed to admire
the lady in question.