career had enabled him to render to their kindred. Olivier Dalibard had
accompanied the marquis and his family in one of the frequent visits they
paid to Laughton; and when the marquis finally quitted England, and fixed
his refuge at Vienna, with some connections of his wife's, he felt a
lively satisfaction at the thought of leaving his friend honourably, if
unambitiously, provided for as secretary and librarian to Sir Miles St.
John. In fact, the scholar, who possessed considerable powers of
fascination, had won no less favour with the English baronet than he had
with the French dictator. He played well both at chess and backgammon;
he was an extraordinary accountant; he had a variety of information upon
all points that rendered him more convenient than any cyclopaedia in Sir
Miles's library; and as he spoke both English and Italian with a
correctness and fluency extremely rare in a Frenchman, he was of
considerable service in teaching languages to, as well as directing the
general literary education of, Sir Miles's favourite niece, whom we shall
take an early opportunity to describe at length.

Nevertheless, there had been one serious obstacle to Dalibard's
acceptance of the appointment offered to him by Sir Miles. Dalibard had
under his charge a young orphan boy of some ten or twelve years old,--a
boy whom Sir Miles was not long in suspecting to be the scholar's son.
This child had come from France with Dalibard, and while the marquis's
family were in London, remained under the eye and care of his guardian or
father, whichever was the true connection between the two. But this
superintendence became impossible if Dalibard settled in Hampshire with
Sir Miles St. John, and the boy remained in London; nor, though the
generous old gentleman offered to pay for the child's schooling, would
Dalibard consent to part with him. At last the matter was arranged: the
boy was invited to Laughton on a visit, and was so lively, yet so well
mannered, that he became a favourite, and was now fairly quartered in the