standard of excellence, declared that there was not his equal in the
county.

Not content with an income far beyond his sordid powers of enjoyment,
Squire Hurdlestone the elder married, without any particular preference,
the daughter of a rich London merchant, whose fortune nearly doubled his
own. The fruits of this union were two sons, who happened in the economy
of nature to be twins. This double blessing rather alarmed the
parsimonious Squire; but as the act of maternal extravagance was never
again repeated on the part of Mrs. Hurdlestone, he used to rub his hands
and tell as a good joke, whenever his heart was warmed by an extra
glass of wine, that his wife was the best manager in the world, as the
same trouble and expense did for both.

A greater difference did not exist between the celebrated sons of Isaac
than was discernible in these modern twins. Unlike in person, talents,
heart, and disposition, from their very birth, they formed a striking
contrast to each other. Mark, the elder by half-an-hour, was an
exaggeration of his father, inheriting in a stronger degree all his
narrow notions and chilling parsimony; but, unlike his progenitor in one
respect, he was a young man of excellent natural capacity. He possessed
strong passions, linked to a dogged obstinacy of purpose, which rendered
him at all times a dangerous and implacable enemy; while the stern
unyielding nature of his temper, and the habitual selfishness which
characterised all his dealings with others, excluded him from the
friendship and companionship of his kind.

Tall and slightly made, with a proud and gentlemanly carriage, he looked
well though dressed in the most homely and unfashionable garb. Beyond
scrupulous cleanliness he paid little attention to the mysteries of the