e-pound note of him, or any tradesman who wished to have
his bill paid. But he had this redeeming quality,--that having found
Lucinda Roanoke to be the handsomest woman he had ever seen, he did
desire to make her his wife.

Such were the friends whom Lizzie Eustace received at Portray Castle
on the first day of her grand hospitality,--together with John
Eustace and Mr. Joseph Emilius, the fashionable preacher from
Mayfair.

CHAPTER XXXVII

Lizzie's First Day

The coming of John Eustace was certainly a great thing for Lizzie,
though it was only for two days. It saved her from that feeling of
desertion before her friends,--desertion by those who might naturally
belong to her,--which would otherwise have afflicted her. His
presence there for two days gave her a start. She could call him
John, and bring down her boy to him, and remind him, with the
sweetest smile,--with almost a tear in her eye,--that he was the
boy's guardian. "Little fellow! So much depends on that little
life,--does it not, John?" she said, whispering the words into his
ear.

"Lucky little dog!" said John, patting the boy's head. "Let me see!
of course he'll go to Eton."

"Not yet," said Lizzie with a shudder.

"Well; no; hardly;--when he's twelve." And then the boy was done with
and was carried away. She had played that card and had turned her
trick. John Eustace was a thoroughly good-natured man of the world,
who could forgive many faults, not expecting people to be perfect.
He did not like Mrs. Carbuncle;--was indifferent to Lucinda's
beauty;--was afraid of that Tartar, Lord George;--and thoroughly
despised Sir Griffin. In his heart he believed Mr. Emilius to be an
impostor, who might, for aught he knew, pick his pocket; and Miss
Macnulty had no attraction for him. But he smiled, and was gay, and
called Lady Eustace by her Christian name, and was content to be of
use to her in showing her friends that she had not been altogether
dropped by the Eustace people. "I got such a nice affectionate letter
from the dear bishop," said Lizzie, "but he couldn't come. He could
not escape a previous engagement."

"It's a long way," said John, "and he's not so young as he was
once;--and then there are the Bobsborough parsons to look after."

"I don't suppose anything of that kind stops him," said Lizzie, who
did not think it possible that a bishop's bliss should be alloyed
by work. John was so very nice that she almost made up her mind to
talk