ing white neckcloth, a voluminous waistcoat, and his orders on.

"Stars and garters, by jingo!" cries Mr. Frederick Bayham; "I say,
Pendennis, have you any idea, is the Duke coming? I wouldn't have come
in these Bluchers if I had known it. Confound it, no--Hoby himself, my
own bootmaker, wouldn't have allowed poor F. B. to appear in Bluchers,
if he had known that I was going to meet the Duke. My linen's all right,
anyhow."

F. B. breathed a thankful prayer for that. Indeed, who but the
very curious could tell that not F. B.'s, but C. H.'s--Charles
Honeyman's--was the mark upon that decorous linen?

Colonel Newcome introduced Sir Thomas to every one in the room, as he
had introduced us all to each other previously, and as Sir Thomas looked
at one after another, his face was kind enough to assume an expression
which seemed to ask, "And who the devil are you, sir?" as clearly as
though the General himself had given utterance to the words. With
the gentleman in the window talking to Clive he seemed to have some
acquaintance, and said not unkindly, "How d'you do, Dobbin?"

The carriage of Sir Brian Newcome now drove up, from which the Baronet
descended in state, leaning upon the arm of the Apollo in plush and
powder, who closed the shutters of the great coach, and mounted by the
side of the coachman, laced and periwigged. The Bench of Bishops has
given up its wigs; cannot the box, too, be made to resign that insane
decoration? Is it necessary for our comfort, that the men who do our
work in stable or household should be dressed like Merry-Andrews?
Enter Sir Brian Newcome, smiling blandly: he greets his brother
affectionately, Sir Thomas gaily; he nods and smiles to Clive, and
graciously permits Mr. Pendennis to take hold of two fingers of his
extended right hand. That gentleman is charmed, of course, with the
condescension. What man could be otherwise than happy to be allowed
a momentary embrace of two such precious fingers? When a gentleman so
favours me, I always ask, mentally, why he has taken the trouble at all,
and regret that I have not had the presence of mind to poke one finger
against his two. If I were worth ten thousand a year, I cannot help
inwardly reflecting, and kept a large account in Threadneedle Street, I
cannot help thinking he would have favoured me with the whole palm.

The arrival of these two grandees has somehow cast a solemnity over the
company. The weather is talked about: brilliant in itself, i