rious task it would be to free this fair being from herself, as
it were, from the foolish tempers that enslaved her, to show her--by
severity if need should be--what best beseems a woman, a maiden.

He became more and more exclusively absorbed in watching the young girl,
as his mother--who was sitting with Dame Susannah on a couch at some
little distance from the players--observed with growing annoyance, and
she tried to divert his attention by questions and small errands, so as
to give his evident excitement a fresh direction.

Who could have thought, yesterday morning, that her darling would so
soon cause her fresh vexation and anxiety.

He had come home just such a man as she and his father could have
wished: independent and experienced in the ways of the great world. In
the Capital he had, no doubt, enjoyed all that seems pleasant in the
eyes of a wealthy youth, but in spite of that he had remained fresh
and open-hearted even to the smallest things; and this was what most
rejoiced his father. In him there was no trace of the satiety, the
blunted faculty for enjoyment, which fell like a blight on so many men
of his age and rank. He could still play as merrily with little Mary,
still take as much pleasure in a rare flower or a fine horse, as before
his departure. At the same time he had gained keen insight into the
political situation of the time, into the state of the empire and the
court, into administration, and the innovations in church matters; it
was a joy to his father to hear him discourse; and he assured his wife
that he had learnt a great deal from the boy, that Orion was on the high
road to be a great statesman and was already quite capable of taking his
father's place.

When Neforis confessed how large a sum in debts Orion had left in
Constantinople the old man put his hand in his purse with a sort of
pride, delighted to find that his sole remaining heir knew how to
spend the immense wealth which to him was now a burden rather than a
pleasure--to make good use of it, as he himself had done in his day, and
display a magnificence of which the lustre was reflected on him and on
his name.

"With him, at any rate," said the old man, "one gets something for the
money. His horses cost a great deal but he knows how to win with them;
his entertainments swallow up a pretty sum, but they gain him respect
wherever he goes. He brought me a letter from the Senator Justinus, and
the worthy man tells me what a leadin