But when Mortimer entered, his air and manner suddenly changed again into a sort of exaggerated animation, which, when compared to that of other people, seemed like vivacity seen through a magnifying glass. He crossed his arms upon his breast, and performed a succession of salams that nearly brought his handsome forehead to the ground, and then, in defiance of the greetings passing between the poet and his friends, he placed his arm upon his shoulder, and absolutely insisted upon whispering a few words in his ear, before he suffered him either to hear or reply to any one else.

As it was ever the custom at Lady Dort's to announce dinner as soon as possible after the arrival of Mr. Mortimer, but little time was given to the enamoured young man to profit by the unspeakable happiness of finding himself near Constance; but that little he used without ceremony, placing himself beside her with an air of authorized appropriation; and when the expected sound of " dinner" was heard, waiting for no permission but his own to present his arm, in order to conduct her down stairs.

"Can you forgive me, Bradley," said Lady Dort, as she herself took the arm of Lord Willoughby, "for not having invited your last elected little Hebe to attend upon you?" This was answered by a shrug. Mr. Fitzosborne presented his arm to Lady Georgina, and the party descended to the dining-room.

Those only who watch the varying signs of the social and moral world, as a shepherd does the clouds, their lights, their shades, their colourings, and their distances, will learn, like him, to understand the atmosphere in which they live. Without such study, the surface of society is an almost monotonous hemisphere, having indeed its horizon and its zenith, but with little intermediate relief to attract the eye, or occupy the understanding. But when it is studied with attention, the result is very different; and even things intended to be the same differ almost as widely as the skull of a German from that of a Frenchman. To follow such study, to explain the points it ought to fix upon, and the seemingly slight indications which lead to important results, would fill a volume instead of a page-not to mention that such a volume, however ingenious, would be utterly useless; inasmuch as the power of observing is very nearly as much an intuitive faculty as that of invention, and neither will nor can be taught, despite all the modern manuals so assiduously offered for the purpose. Those who do observe, may indeed often find very intelligent listeners among those who do not; and it not unfrequently happens that the dreamy eye that passes from scene to scene, with little consciousness how widely different are the phenomena to be found in each, kindles into higher and deeper speculation, when pregnant themes are pointed out to it, than the mere observer ever fell into.

The excellent dinners of Lady Dort, notwithstanding the identity of many of its elements, (even among the guests themselves,) were no more like the excellent dinners of Mrs. Gardener Stewart, than the scudding before a fluttering gale is to floating down the current of a tranquil stream.

Lady Dort would have felt her renown blighted and withered almost past recovery, had she suffered any one subject to drop with

out taking care that another sprang out of it, like the beguiling continuity of the Arabian nights. Tradespeople would have been changed, and servants dismissed, had she seen reason to suspect that anything was defective in the positif of her entertainments; but, comparatively speaking, this would have appeared to her as a matter of utter indifference, if placed before her in competition with any defect in the feast of reason and the flow of soul with which it was the principal object of her life to regale her guests.

Mrs. Gardener Stewart, on the contrary, having, as a matter of course, taken care that her guests were all very delightful people, neither old nor ugly, with well-tuned voices and irreproachable bon ton, permitted the flow of soul to go on pretty much as chance directed ; but never suffering a shade from her pococurante system to fall upon the perfection of her banquet, or the studied refinement of its accompaniments. With a mind of much smaller proportions than that of Lady Dort, there was less of absurdity, as well as less of cleverness; and if she often suffered wit to repose itself behind a quiet smile, instead of insisting that it should be for ever in active exercise, she at least took care that it should find nothing to carry away with it to furnish sport for its more active moods. All she asked of Heaven for herself was an eternal entourage of everything that was soothing to the senses, and all her elegant ambition sought was to obtain a sensitive circle of adoring friends, worthy to share with her in the enjoyment of it. She wished not to inspire any feelings warmer or stronger than what were likely to arise from being the source from whence such gentle hours flowed, and would rather have closed her eyes in endless night, than have been quoted as one of those who expected that the luxuries of her mansion should be repaid by the conversational efforts of her guests. Such men as the sentimental Mortimer preferred Mrs. Gardener Stewart; such as the animated Lord Willoughby most affected Lady Dort. Fitzosborne, though he greatly admired neither, permitted himself for a season to find amusement from both; while Mr. Bradley, and everything in the slightest degree resembling him, whether belonging to art or to science, and though deriving fame from all the reputation that either could bestow, was so completely an abomination to Mrs. Gardener Stewart, that her name was never heard from any such, while that of Lady Dort was very affectionately familiar to them all.

This episode parallel has been resorted to as the shortest way of bringing the reader acquainted with the rival patronesses of Constance, and may save time hereafter.

Of this, her first London dinner-party, Miss Ridley was, in truth, no very fair judge; Mortimer was seated at her right hand, and, when doing her very best to describe the party on the following day to Penelope, she was perfectly unable to tell who it was that was seated at her left. The conversation was exceedingly lively;-Lady Dort was whimsical, and superabundantly animated; Lady Georgina was prettily plaintive, and most amusingly learned; Lord Willoughby abounding in witty anecdote; Mr. Fitzosborne aiding and abetting the display of each by a few well-timed words, which might have proved, to any one at leisure to think about it, that he rather sought to hear

others than to be heard himself; while the inspired artist, whenever he could find leisure from his assiduous combinations of half a dozen sauces into one, to contribute the proportion expected from him towards the amusement of the hour, did it by such wild and whimsical bursts of mingled folly and cleverness, that Lady Dort declared him, at least half a dozen times before the dinner ended, to be, without exception, the most enchanting animal, and the most delightful wretch that nature ever produced.

And Mortimer-the sought-for and admired Mortimer-what did he do to redeem the pledge which every one thought that they received when told they were about to meet him? O, he did much. True it is that no syllable he uttered was heard by any other ear than that of Constance. But Mr. Mortimer was of so much importance, that everything he did was of importance too. His love-affairs, in particular, were always public property, and he never fell out of one, and into another, without furnishing a world of discussion of the most deep and delightful interest to all the pretty single women in town-and happy was the man who had the first tale to tell, and the first anecdote to give, of such events.

No one felt disappointed, therefore, when, instead of the acute remark, the delicate irony, and the gentle vivacity of Henry Mortimer, they perceived only the beau ideal of a poet dissolving in love. Nothing really having existence can be so light, so slight, so untangible, so like a volatile essence that fades before it is fully exhaled, as the signs of sous-intelligence exchanged between well-bred persons à l'insu of their object; yet, nevertheless, looks were given, received, and understood on the present occasion, which put Lord Willoughby perfectly au fait of Lady Georgina's suspicions, and Lady Dort's convictions, respecting the poet's unborn love, and Mr. Fitzosborne respecting Mr. Bradley's unmitigated impertinence.

It was not the custom at Lady Dort's for the gentlemen to remain long in the dining-room after the ladies had left it; and, little as her accomplished ladyship suspected it, there were elements in the partie carrée she left behind her there on the present occasion sufficiently discordant to render this usually short period shorter still. Nevertheless, Mr. Mortimer, who was the first to make his way back to the drawing-room, did not arrive there before Lady Dort had full time to cross-examine Constance a little respecting her previous acquaintance with him. During the whole time this lasted, Lady Georgina Grayton kept her handsome eyes immovably and very unceremoniously fixed upon the party under examination, making various active preparations the while for her own permanent accommodation on the sofa-such as arranging the cushions, approaching a footstool, and placing a screen, but yet never for an instant withdrawing her eyes, or relaxing her scrutiny.

It is no very easy matter for a conscious and enamoured girl to endure all this gracefully, and without so losing her self-possession as to betray exactly the species of interesting agitation expected. But there was a sturdiness of self-respect about Constance which, despite the tumultuous throbbing of her heart, enabled her to reply quietly, distinctly, and correctly to Lady Dort, while she sustained the steady

eyebrow of Lady Georgina with an admirable appearance of unconsciousness.

This effort was simply the effect of a sort of innate maiden dignity, resisting, almost by instinct, the attempt to dive into the hidden treasures that her heart concealed, and had no reference whatever to the impression which her words or manner might make on either of their curious ladyships; but had Constance studied her companions with all the sagacity of a Machiavelli, she could have pursued no line of conduct so likely to bring them to her feet. Lady Dort felt persuaded that she had caught a "personage," a "character," a thing to wonder at, as well as to admire a creature, in short, who could stand the admiration of Henry Mortimer, without having her head turned or her heart excoriated by it; while Lady Georgina at once saw in her a heroine to whom she could indite sonnets and elegies-in whose honour she could paraphrase Horace, quote Ovid, and invoke Janus, and for whom she could immediately form one of those devoted friendships which led to picturesque groupings, piquant whisperings, and the power of opening her entire heart on the subject of her still dear but most uncongenial Grayton !

Urged by feelings so powerful, the polished and delicately-transparent barrier of drawing-room incognito was thrown aside, and Lady Georgina, begging "to be named" to Miss Ridley, declared herself exceedingly desirous of making her acquaintance.

It was immediately after this ceremony had been performed that the poet entered, upon which Lady Georgina, who had actually abandoned all the comforts of cushions, footstool, and screen, for the purpose of placing herself near the friend to whom she was determined to devote herself for the next two months, rose from the chair she had just taken, and, looking from it to the face of Mortimer, and from the face of Mortimer to it, with an expression equally elegant and intelligible, returned to her former position, conscious that she bore with her the gratitude of two devoted hearts.

This was a species of offrande by no means new to Mr. Mortimer. Neither his devoted attachments nor his desolating disappointments were ever kept secret from that elegant portion of society to which he belonged, and there was scarcely a pretty married woman, who made one of it, who did not eagerly seize upon every occasion of showing her gentle sympathy; so he dropped into the vacant chair with one rapid glance of acknowledgment to the charming friend who had resigned it, and prepared to give himself up again, wholly and solely, to the gentle converse of his new divinity.

But although this avowed preparation for love-making was not new to him, it was to Miss Ridley, and not all her inclination to listen to him for ever could make it agreeable to her. "As soon," thought she, "would I perform the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet with him, before a select and judicious audience, as endure this! Oh! what would he think of me if I could!" Nevertheless, it required some little consideration in order to decide upon the best and fittest mode of avoiding it. She could not fly from his side at the very moment he was speaking to her, and that with no ostensible object whatever for the movement; such marked avoidance would be as scenic

and as objectionable as remaining. No! she must "bide the time," and watch for an opportunity.

It was not, however, very easy to find it; for when it was Mr. Mortimer's will to talk, his words flowed on with the delicious harmony of a gentle rippling stream, as sweet, and as incessant too.

Lady Dort had placed herself beside Lady Georgina, and their two heads, whisperingly close together, showed no hope of her being able civilly to introduce her own between them, and, ere she had achieved the movement she meditated, the door again opened, and the other three gentlemen entered together.

By a habit too inveterate for the most genial spring weather to alter as long as an atom of fire is permitted to glimmer on an English hearth, they all walked up to the hearth-rug, and awaited there the arrival of the steaming vase, whose fragrant exhalations had already greeted them as they ascended the stairs.

While thus standing, the group formed by Miss Ridley, Mr. Mortimer, and the young lady's nosegay, was precisely in front of them all, and certainly was not overlooked by either. The six eyes thus fixed upon her were more than Constance could bear, and, suddenly rising, as if to set her own coffee-cup upon the table, she remained stationary beside it long enough to select from its multitudinous treasures a volume which seemed to promise wherewithal to give her the comfort of an occupation better suited to the place and time than listening to Mr. Mortimer's interpretation of the flowers of which her bouquet was composed.

Constance had asked herself what Mortimer would think of her should she continue to sit beside him, as if expressly to receive his homage before the eyes of all beholders. Had she made this inquiry of one capable of giving her a true answer, she would have been told, that in no way could she have more effectually riveted the poet's chains, than by making him feel that when he was near her she was unconscious of all else the world contained; for nothing could be much less similar than this gentleman's estimate of young ladies during the periods when his loves were crescent, and that which followed when they were waning.

But had the same question been asked and answered concerning the judgment of Mr. Fitzosborne on the same subject, she would have learned that nothing could be in nicer harmony than his opinions and her own. Never, either in his native land or out of it, had Fitzosborne seen a woman whom he thought comparable in attractive loveliness to Constance Ridley; and though it was already very acutely painful to him to witness the unreserved devotion of the ever-privileged Mortimer to her, his incipient, and, as yet, almost unconscious attachment, was in no degree shaken thereby; for he felt it natural that every man of taste should admire her; nor could he feel at all surprised that the chartered laureat of beauty, the acknowledged adorer of the fairest faces which each successive season produced, should not suffer hers to pass without its meed of worship.

He saw, too, that the fair divinity was neither unconscious of, nor averse to, the offering; and that this, too, gave him pain, was very certain. Nevertheless, he had a deep conviction at his heart, that no