ask the same question of your Ladyship?" said George,
archly.

"If you like; only that, as I asked first--"

"You shall be answered first. Lady Hester Onslow, allow me to present
Mr. Albert Jekyl."

"Oh, indeed!" drawled out Lady Hester, as, with her very coldest bow,
she surveyed Mr. Jekyl through her glass, and then turned away to finish
her conversation with Ellen.

Jekyl was not the man to feel a slight repulse as a defeat; but, at
the same time, saw that the present was not the moment to risk an
engagement. He saw, besides, that, by engaging Dalton in conversation,
he should leave Lady Hester and Onslow at liberty to converse with
the two sisters, and, by this act of generosity, entitle himself to
gratitude on all sides. And, after all, among the smaller martyrdoms
of this life, what self-sacrifice exceeds his who, out of pure
philanthropy, devotes himself to the "bore" of the party. Honor to him
who can lead the forlorn hope of this stronghold of weariness. Great be
his praises who can turn from the seductive smiles of beauty, and the
soft voices of youth, and only give eye and ear to the tiresome and
uninteresting. High among the achievements of unobtrusive heroism
should this claim rank; and if you doubt it, my dear reader, if you feel
disposed to hold cheaply such darings, try it, try even for once. Take
your place beside that deaf old lady in the light auburn wig, or draw
your chair near to that elderly gentleman, whose twinkling gray eyes
and tremulous lip bespeak an endless volubility on the score of personal
reminiscences. Do this, too, within earshot of pleasant voices and merry
laughter, of that tinkling ripple that tells of conversation flowing
lightly on, like a summer stream, clear where shallow, and reflective
where deep! Listen to the wearisome bead-roll of family fortunes, the
births, deaths, and marriages of those you never saw, and hoped never
to see, hear the long narratives of past events, garbled, mistaken, and
misstated, with praise and censure ever misapplied, and then, I say, you
will feel that, although such actions are not rewarded with red ribbons
or blue, they yet demand a moral courage and a perseverance that in
wider fields win high distinction.

[Illustration: 166]

Albert Jekyl was a proficient in this great art; indeed, his powers
developed themselves according to the exigency, so that the more
insufferably tiresome his companion, the more seemingly attentive
and intereste