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ou beat him hollow, my dear boy; yet all London went mad about Prince Gelbioso, and so did she; and off she bolted with him, bag and baggage, leaving husband and children and friends and all! and she'd got ten thousand a year of her own; and when the Duke divorced her they were married, and lived happily ever after--in Italy; and some of the best people called upon 'em, by George!... just to spite the Duke!" Barty felt it would seem priggish or even insincere if he were to disclaim any wish to emulate Prince Gelbioso; so he merely said he thought painting easier on the whole, and not so risky; and the good Beresford Duff talked of other things--of the divine Julia, and what a good thing it would be if she and Graham-Reece could make a match of it. "Two of the finest fortunes in England, by George! they _ought_ to come together, if only just for the fun of the thing! Not that she is a bit in love with him--I'll eat my hat if she is! What a pity _you_ ain't goin' to be Lord Ironsides, Barty!" Barty frankly confessed _he_ shouldn't much object, for one. "But, 'ni l'or ni la grandeur ne nous rendent heureux,' as we used to be taught at school." "Ah, that's all gammon; wait till you're _my_ age, my young friend, and as poor as _I_ am," said Beresford Duff. And so the two friends talked on, Mentor and Telemachus--and we needn't listen any further. Part Seventh "Old winter was gone In his weakness back to the mountains hoar, And the spring came down From the planet that hovers upon the shore Where the sea of sunlight encroaches On the limits of wintry night; If the land, and the air, and the sea Rejoice not when spring approaches, We did not rejoice in thee, Ginevra!" --Shelley. Riffrath, besides its natives and its regular English colony of residents, had a floating population that constantly changed. And every day new faces were to be found drinking tea with Mr. Beresford Duff--and all these faces were well known in society at home, you may be sure; and Barty made capital caricatures of them all, which were treasured up and carried back to England; one or two of them turn up now and then at a sale at Christie's and fetch a great price. I got a little pen-and-ink outline of Captain Reece there, drawn before he came into the title. I had to give forty-seven pounds ten for it, not only because it was a sp
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