hope for the latter. At home he had been adored rapturously by a large
circle of affectionate male and female relatives; at school his tutors
had been singularly indulgent of his faults and admiring of his talents;
even among his fellow-pupils he had been a sort of autocrat.

Why not, indeed, with such birthrights and such prospects? When he had
entered society, he had met with even more amiable treatment from
affectionate mothers, from innocent daughters, from cordial paternal
parents, who voted him an exceedingly fine fellow. Why should he bore
himself by taking the trouble to seem pleased by a stupid evening with an
old grenadier in petticoats and a badly dressed country girl?

Lucia was very glad when, in answer to a timidly appealing glance, Lady
Theobald said,--

"It is half-past ten. You may wish us good-night, Lucia."

Lucia obeyed, as if she had been half-past ten herself, instead of nearly
twenty; and Barold was not long in following her example.

Dobson led him to a stately chamber at the top of the staircase, and left
him there. The captain chose the largest and most luxurious chair, sat
down in it, and lighted a cigar at his leisure.

"Confoundedly stupid hole!" he said with a refined vigor one would
scarcely have expected from an individual of his birth and breeding. "I
shall leave to-morrow, of course. What was my mother thinking of? Stupid
business from first to last."