He had stood a little in awe of his father, whose severely patriarchal
principles he well knew. He now heard that the old man was extremely
liberal-minded towards youth, and he was very glad to be enabled to
discourse with him upon serious matters.

But, for the moment, it was only a question of jesting; _à propos_ of
the toast, there ensued one of those interesting table-talks, about who
was really young and who old. After the company had arrived at this
witty result, that the eldest were in reality the youngest, they
adjourned to the dessert-table, which was laid in the ladies' room.

But, no matter how gallant the gentlemen--especially those of the old
school--may be towards the fair sex, neither feminine amiability nor the
most _recherché_ dessert has power to stop them for long on their way to
the smoking-room. And soon the first faint aroma of cigars, so great a
luxury to smokers, announced the beginning of that process which has
obtained for our ladies the fame of being quite smoke-dried.

The student and a few other young gentlemen remained for a time with
the young ladies--under the strict surveillance of the elder ones. But
little by little they also were swallowed up in the gray cloud which
indicated the way that their fathers had taken.

In the smoking-room they were carrying on a very animated conversation
upon some matter of social politics. The host, who was speaking,
supported his view with a number of 'historical facts,' which, however,
were entirely unreliable.

His opponent, a solicitor of the High Court, was sitting chuckling
inwardly at the prospect of refuting these inaccurate statements, when