f which, to say truth, time had considerably
impaired--had made contemptuous observations regarding her upon more
than one occasion. At length the Colonel broke out in great wrath
against Mrs. Mackenzie--bade her to respect that lady as one of his
guests--and, if she did not like the company which assembled at his
house, hinted to her that there were many thousand other houses in
London where she could find a lodging. For the sake of her grandchild,
and her adored child, the Campaigner took no notice of this hint; and
declined to remove from the quarter which she had occupied ever since
she had become a grandmamma.

I myself dined once or twice with my old friends, under the shadow of
the pickle-bearing cocoa-nut tree; and could not but remark a change of
personages in the society assembled. The manager of the City branch of
the B. B. C. was always present--an ominous-looking man, whose whispers
and compliments seemed to make poor Clive, at his end of the table, very
melancholy. With the City manager came the City manager's friends, whose
jokes passed gaily round, and who kept the conversation to themselves.
Once I had the happiness to meet Mr. Ratray, who had returned, filled
with rupees from the Indian Bank; who told us many anecdotes of the
splendour of Rummun Loll at Calcutta, who complimented the Colonel
on his fine house and grand dinners with sinister good-humour. Those
compliments did not seem to please our poor friend; that familiarity
choked him. A brisk little chattering attorney, very intimate with
Sherrick, with a wife of dubious gentility, was another constant guest.
He enlivened the table by his jokes, and recounted choice stories about
the aristocracy, with certain members of whom the little man seemed very
familiar. He knew to a shilling how much this lord owed--and how much
the creditors allowed to that marquis. He had been concerned with such
and such a nobleman, who was now in the Queen's Bench. He spoke of their
lordships affably and without their titles--calling upon "Louisa, my
dear," his wife, to testify to the day when Viscount Tagrag dined with
them, and Earl Bareacres sent them the pheasants. F. B., as sombre and
downcast as his hosts now seemed to be, informed me demurely that the
attorney was a member of one of the most eminent firms in the City--that
he had been engaged in procuring the Colonel's parliamentary title for
him--and in various important matters appertaining to the B. B. C.; but