lad like myself. How tenderly respectful in
his attentions to my mother ; who received
his polite and solicitous courtesies rather
ungraciously sometimes, although "dear Philip"
had been often too forward on her lips to be
recalled. All this, and thoughts and fancies
that grew out of it, passed through my brain
before I went to sleep that night.

It was necessary that I should devote
certain hours of each day to my studies, that
I might prepare myself for college. Accordingly,
just so much of my time was occupied,
as prevented the remainder from becoming
tedious. The state of my mother's health
forbade the reception of much company;
but two or three dinners were given in
honour of my arrival, and to introduce me
as the heir of Westwood. My claim to that
title was, of course, never doubted ; but it
was clearly the desire of my mother to
impress upon the minds of the gentry of our
division of the county, that my interests had
been duly cared for ; and that Mr. Garston
and herself were not in the slightest degree
beholden to me for the maintenance of the
position they occupied.

It was after one of these dinners that Mr.
Meredith took an opportunity of drawing me
aside to ask me my opinion of my stepfather.
I answered that, so far as I was competent to
judge, he was a man of varied and minute
knowledge on many points in which the
world in general took little interest, and
towards which I had not as yet detected in
myself any strong bias; but that perhaps
such people were useful in the world, as
depositories, if not sometimes as directors of
the public taste. I added that he appeared
to be extremely amiable, and well suited to
my mother; who was of a gentle nature, and
who could sympathise, if she could not go
along with, his enthusiasm on matters of
archæology and art.

"Ah! there it is," said Meredith, " he
is a man of taste, and that's why I don't
like him. An undue portion, often the
whole, of the minds of these people is devoted
to virtu, to the entire neglect of all the duties
and obligations that lie before them in daily
life. Why, sir, that young peer " (meaning
Byron, who had not long published his fourth
canto of Childe Harold) "has turned so
many heads, that I don't know how Canova
has managed, or will manage, to make them
look like rational beings in marble. Every
lady and gentleman fresh from Rome and
Florence torments you with the Apollo
Belvedere. Twang goes the long-bow in
raptures concerning him. Meanwhile, who
cares for Niobe and her children ? Actual
Want, that monstrous boa-constrictor whose
convolutions torture so many worthy families,
is an unheeded agency, because an actual one.
But pray mark with wonder and admiration
how well the venomous asp does his work in
stone upon poor old Laocoön and his boys.
As to the Dying Gladiator, I am one of those
Goths who would willingly glut my ire upon
the fools who gape at him. Mr. Garston!"

That gentleman heard the call, and
approached with noiseless grace.

"My dear sir?" He held Meredith in high
respect.

"A plain question, Mr. Garston. Arthur
and I have been talking of art. Now, what
would not you give more for a mutilated
trunk—a torso, I think you call it—of that
worthy fellow who fiddled while Rome was
burning—Nero, than would render easy for
life two or three poor old fellows who are
at present pensioners of the Society for
Decayed Musicians?"

Mr. Garston smiled; but, with a shrug and
an appealing look at me.

"Heaven forbid," said he, " that a love of
art should extinguish our sympathies. A
possession of the memorials of genius is
ill acquired when it involves a neglect of the
claims of merit in distress."

"It is all very well," observed Meredith,
when Mr. Garston left us, which was after a
few minutes' talk; "but I never yet knew an
enthusiast who was not selfish and
coldhearted. Garston may not be so; and if he
is, he certainly takes pains to appear otherwise,
which carries a sort of merit along with
it. But what puzzles me, is the extraordinary
footing on which your mother and he seem to
stand in relation to each other. His
assiduities would be comical, if they did not set
one upon striving to guess as to the motive
of them; which is not altogether one of politeness
or respect. Yet, though these are
constant and unvaried, I find a great diversity
in her manner of accepting them. He seems
to be playing a well-studied part; whilst she
has not yet made up her mind to assume one,
nor decided about what part it shall be that
she is to play. She must settle that point
quickly, or people will begin to suspect
something, and exchange suspicions. Observe
them now."

I did so. But I had often observed them
before; and my suspicious had been already
awakened. Thenceforth I watched more
narrowly; and, I was at last confirmed in my
belief that the cause of my mother's strange
behaviour towards her husband—which, to
the casual and indifferent spectator, must have
appeared like caprice, or affectation, or
ill-temper, was partly to be referred to a young
girl who waited upon her in the capacity of
lady's maid.

This girl was of Italian birth, and had
been brought from Italy by my mother;
who, having taken a liking to her when a
child, had reared her in her own household;
may almost be said to have adopted her. This
girl—her name was Anna—was not even
pretty; and, making every allowance for the
indulgence with which she had been so long
treated, and the familiarity which had almost
been conceded by such indulgence, the
boldness of her carriage, and the measuring, the