"Such a man as Captain Walsingham! nicely guarded expression!"

"But you have not heard all yet.--Mrs. Beaumont anxiously inquired
from me whether he had made any prize-money, whether there was any
chance of his returning soon; and she added, with particular emphasis,
'You don't know how much I wish it! You don't know what a favourite he
is of mine!'"

"That last, I will lay any wager," cried Mr. Walsingham, "she said in a
whisper, and in a corner."

"Yes, but she could not do otherwise, for Amelia was present. Mrs.
Beaumont took me aside."

"Aside; ay, ay, but take care, I advise you, of her _asides_, and her
whisperings, and her cornerings, and her inuendoes, and semiconfidences,
lest your own happiness, my dear, unsuspecting, enthusiastic daughter,
should be the sacrifice."

Miss Walsingham now stood perfectly silent, in embarrassed and
breathless anxiety.

"I see," continued her father, "that Mrs. Beaumont, for whose mighty
genius one intrigue at a time is not sufficient, wants also to persuade
you, my dear, that she wishes to have you for a daughter-in-law: and
yet all the time she is doing every thing she can to make her son marry
that fool, Miss Hunter, merely because she has two hundred thousand
pounds fortune."