ear as that disappears. So it was
with John; after removing the soup, he put a dumb-waiter near my uncle,
touched a carving-knife or two, as much as to say "help yourselves," and
quitted the room. As a matter of course, our dinner was not a very
elaborate one, it wanting two or three hours to the regular time of
dining, though my grandmother had ordered, in my hearing, one or two
delicacies to be placed on the table, that had surprised Patt. Among the
extraordinary things for such guests was wine. The singularity, however,
was a little explained by the quality commanded, which was Rhenish.

My uncle Ro was a little surprised at the disappearance of John; for,
seated in that room, he was so accustomed to his face, that it appeared
as if he were not half at home without him.

"Let the fellow go," he said, withdrawing his hand from the bell-cord,
which he had already touched to order him back again; "we can talk more
freely without him. Well, Hugh, here you are, under your own roof,
eating a charitable dinner, and treated as hospitably as if you did not
own all you can see for a circle of five miles around you. It was a
lucky idea of the old lady's, by the way, to think of ordering this
Rudesheimer, in our character of Dutchmen! How amazingly well she is
looking, boy!"

"Indeed she is; and I am delighted to see it. I do not know why my
grandmother may not live these twenty years; for even that would not
make her near as old as Sus, who, I have often heard her say, was a
middle-aged man when she was born."

"True; she seems like an elder sister to me, rather than as a mother,
and is altogether a most delightful old woman. But, if we had so
charming an old woman to receive us, so are there also some very
charming _young_ women--hey, Hugh?"

"I am quite of your way of thinking, sir; and must say I have not, in
many a day, seen two as charming creatures as I have met with here."

"_Two_!--umph; a body would think _one_ might suffice. Pray, which may
be the two, Master Padishah?"

"Patt and Mary Warren, of course. The other two are well enough, but
these two are excellent."

My uncle Ro looked grum, but he said nothing for some time. Eating is
always an excuse for a broken conversation, and he ate away as if
resolute not to betray his disappointment. But it is a hard matter for a
gentleman to do nothing but eat at table, and so was obliged to talk.

"Everything looks well here, after all, Hugh," observed my uncle. "Th