r. Newcome's grandfather
came to London with a satchel on his back, like Whittington. Isn't it
romantic?

This process has been going on for months. It is not in one day that
poor Lady Clara has been made to forget the past, and to lay aside her
mourning. Day after day, very likely, the undeniable faults and many
peccadilloes of--of that other person, have been exposed to her. People
around the young lady may desire to spare her feelings, but can have
no interest in screening Poor Jack from condign reprobation. A wild
prodigal--a disgrace to his order--a son of old Highgate's leading such
a life, and making such a scandal! Lord Dorking believes Mr. Belsize to
be an abandoned monster and fiend in human shape; gathers and
relates all the stories that ever have been told to the young man's
disadvantage, and of these be sure there are enough, and speaks of
him with transports of indignation. At the end of months of unwearied
courtship, Mr. Barnes Newcome is honestly accepted, and Lady Clara is
waiting for him at Baden, not unhappy to receive him; when walking on
the promenade with her father, the ghost of her dead love suddenly rises
before her, and the young lady faints to the ground.

When Barnes Newcome thinks fit he can be perfectly placable in his
demeanour and delicate in his conduct. What he said upon this painful
subject was delivered with the greatest propriety. He did not for one
moment consider that Lady Clara's agitation arose from any present
feeling in Mr. Belsize's favour, but that she was naturally moved by the
remembrance of the past, and the sudden appearance which recalled it.
"And but that a lady's name should never be made the subject of dispute
between men," Newcome said to Lord Dorking, with great dignity, "and
that Captain Belsize has opportunely quitted the place, I should
certainly have chastised him. He and another adventurer, against whom I
have had to warn my own family, have quitted Baden this afternoon. I am
glad that both are gone, Captain Belsize especially; for my temper, my
lord, is hot, and I do not think I should have commanded it."

Lord Kew, when the elder lord informed him of this admirable speech of
Barnes Newcome's, upon whose character, prudence, and dignity the Earl
of Dorking pronounced a fervent eulogium, shook his head gravely, and
said, "Yes, Barnes was a dead shot, and a most determined fellow:" and
did not burst out laughing until he and Lord Dorking had parted. Then
to b