h illustrated these scenes
of convalescence and of gaiety, was not at first seen so much at the
ordinary, and other places of public resort, as had been the hope of the
worthy company assembled. His health and his wound proved an excuse for
making his visits to the society few and far between.

But when he did appear, his manners and person were infinitely
captivating; and even the carnation-coloured silk handkerchief, which
suspended his wounded arm, together with the paleness and languor which
loss of blood had left on his handsome and open countenance, gave a
grace to the whole person which many of the ladies declared
irresistible. All contended for his notice, attracted at once by his
affability, and piqued by the calm and easy nonchalance with which it
seemed to be blended. The scheming and selfish Mowbray, the
coarse-minded and brutal Sir Bingo, accustomed to consider themselves,
and to be considered, as the first men of the party, sunk into
comparative insignificance. But chiefly Lady Penelope threw out the
captivations of her wit and her literature; while Lady Binks, trusting
to her natural charms, endeavoured equally to attract his notice. The
other nymphs of the Spa held a little back, upon the principle of that
politeness, which, at continental hunting parties, affords the first
shot at a fine piece of game, to the person of the highest rank present;
but the thought throbbed in many a fair bosom, that their ladyships
might miss their aim, in spite of the advantages thus allowed them, and
that there might then be room for less exalted, but perhaps not less
skilful, markswomen, to try their chance.

But while the Earl thus withdrew from public society, it was necessary,
at least natural, that he should choose some one with whom to share the
solitude of his own apartment; and Mowbray, superior in rank to the
half-pay whisky-drinking Captain MacTurk; in dash to Winterblossom, who
was broken down, and turned twaddler; and in tact and sense to Sir Bingo
Binks, easily manoeuvred himself into his lordship's more intimate
society; and internally thanking the honest footpad, whose bullet had
been the indirect means of secluding his intended victim from all
society but his own, he gradually began to feel the way, and prove the
strength of his antagonist, at the various games of skill and hazard
which he introduced, apparently with the sole purpose of relieving the
tedium of a sick-chamber.

Meiklewham, who felt, or a