the proprietor of a fashionable and flourishing antiquities and
furniture business in a well-known thoroughfare, and was considered one
of the best judges of old silver and china in the trade.

It exasperated Shafto to listen to his mother's "table talk," and he
made a point of sitting as far as possible from her vicinity. She
liked to impress Levison and other with highly-coloured reminiscences
of her grand acquaintances; even the Tremenheeres--with whom she had
quarrelled so bitterly--were dragged in and shown off as intimates.
More than once Shafto had felt his face burn, as exaggerations and
glorifications were unfolded in his parent's far-carrying and assertive
treble.

Besides Mr. Manasseh Levison, were the two Misses
Smith--twins--genteel, middle-aged spinsters, who, until the arrival of
the sprightly and attractive widow, had alternately cherished high
hopes of the wealthy Jew. Their chief energies were devoted to the
task of blowing one another's trumpets, thereby drawing attention to
particular virtues and modestly hidden accomplishments. For example,
the elder would say:

"Darling Ella is so clever at cooking, as good as any French chef, her
sauces and savouries are too wonderful."

They were!

And Ella, in repayment, assured her listeners that Jessie had a perfect
genius for gardening and housekeeping; and yet it was whispered that
this effusively fond couple, when alone, quarrelled and wrangled as
cruelly as the notorious Kilkenny cats.