g like
it. No pleasant joke, sir, when anything goes amiss, as it used to be;
no turning it off with a merry laugh! He 's fretful and impatient about
the merest trifles, and he that never wanted attendance is now always
complaining that he 's neglected, and deserted and forsaken by all the
world."

"Does the Captain come often to see and sit with him?"

"Every day, sir; but these visits do rather harm than good. Sir Stafford
is vexed at what goes on in the house; and Master George, I don't know
how it is, but he don't calm him down, and they have oftentimes angry
words together; not but my master is frequently in the wrong, and
taxes the young gentleman with what he can't help; for you see, sir, my
Lady--"

"D--n! I mean, tell me about Sir Stafford; it is of him I want to hear.
Does he read?"

"He makes me read to him every day, sir, all about the money-market
and railroad shares; sometimes twice over, indeed; and when I ask if he
would n't like to hear about what goes on in politics, he always says,
'No, Proctor, let's have the City article again.'"

"And his letters does n't he read them?"

"The Captain reads them for him, sir; and now and then writes the
answers, for he can't hold a pen himself! Oh, you 'll not know him when
you see him! He that was so large and fine a man, I lift him in and out
of bed as if he were a baby."

"Has he no acquaintance here?"

"None, sir."

"Are there no inquiries after his health?"

"Yes, sir; there's plenty of people he used to give money to when he was
up and about poor actors, and painters, and the like they come every
day to know how he is. Some of them leave begging letters, which I never
give him; but most go away without a word."

"And his countrymen here are there none who ask after him?"

"No, sir. The only English we ever see visit my Lady, and never come to
this side of the house at all."

"Does Miss Dalton come to inquire for him?"

"Every morning and every night too, sir. I suppose it must be without
my Lady's orders, or even knowledge; for once, when Sir Stafford was
sitting up in his dressing-room, and I asked her if she would n't like
to come in and sit a few minutes with him, she turned away without
speaking; and I saw, from her manner, that she was crying."

"What are all these people outside, who are they?"

"My Lady's tradespeople, sir. They've heard she's going for a few
weeks to Como, and they 've come with all their bills, as if she was a
ru