he gained a show of feeling; he had learnt that feeling was wanted.
Passion, he had not a notion of: otherwise he would not be delaying;
the interview, dramatized by the father of the young bud of womanhood,
would be taking place, and the entry into Lakelands calculable, for
Nataly's comfort, as under the aegis of the Cantor earldom. Gossip flies
to a wider circle round the members of a great titled family, is
inaudible; or no longer the diptherian whisper the commonalty hear of the
commonalty: and so we see the social uses of our aristocracy survive. We
do not want the shield of any family; it is the situation that wants it;
Nataly ought to be awake to the fact. One blow and we have silenced our
enemy: Nesta's wedding-day has relieved her parents.

Victor's thoughts upon the instrument for striking that, blow, led him to
suppose Mr. Sowerby might be meditating on the extent of the young lady's
fortune. He talked randomly of money, in a way to shatter Nataly's
conception of him. He talked of City affairs at table, as it had been
his practice to shun the doing; and hit the resounding note on mines,
which have risen in the market like the crest of a serpent, casting a
certain spell upon the mercantile understanding. 'Fredi's diamonds from
her own mine, or what once was--and she still reserves a share,' were to
be shown to Mr. Sowerby.

Nataly respected the young fellow for not displaying avidity at the
flourish of the bait, however it might be affecting him; and she fancied
that he did laboriously, in his way earnestly, study her girl, to sound
for harmony between them, previous to a wooing. She was a closer reader
of social character than Victor; from refraining to run on the broad
lines which are but faintly illustrative of the individual one in being
common to all--unless we have hit by chance on an example of the
downright in roguery or folly or simple goodness. Mr. Sowerby'g bearing