It is true, his Indian friends found him out at the Burlington, and their cards adorned his mantelpiece--for Mr. Benjamin Vernon was said to be worth a plum, and to be on the look out for a vacancy in the Directory. But although these were indisputably his Indian friends, it appeared to Mr. Vernon, that they were no longer his friends of India. They seemed to him to live in a constant state of unnatural excitement. _Some_ prided themselves on being stars in fashion's gayest circle--others, whom he had hardly known, _were_ fathers--for their families were educating in England---he now found surrounded by children, on whose provision they were wholly intent. These were off at a tangent, "to see Peter Auber, at the India House," or, "could not wait an instant; they were to meet Josh: Alexander precisely at two." And then their flippant sons! taking wine with him, forsooth--adjusting their neckcloths--and asking "whether he had met their father at Madras or Calcutta?" This to a true Bengalee! Nor was this all! The young renegades ate their curry with a knife! Others, from whom he had parted years before, shook hands with him at the Oriental, as if his presence there was a matter of course; and then asked him "what he thought of Stanley's speech?" Now, there are few men breathing, who have their sympathies so keenly alive--who show and who look for, such warmth of heart---who are so chilled and hurt by indifference--as your bachelor East Indian. The married one may solace himself for coldness abroad, by sunny smiles at home;--but the friendless bachelor is sick at heart, unless he encounter a hearty pressure of the hand--an eye that sparkles, as it catches his--an interested listener to his thousand and one tales of Oriental scenes, and of Oriental good fellowship. Mr. Benjamin Vernon soon found this London solitude--it was worse than solitude--quite insupportable. He determined to visit his brother's widow, and left town for Leamington. The brother-in-law felt more than gratified at the cordial welcome that there met him. His heart responded to their tones of kindness, and the old Indian, in the warmth of his gratitude, thought he had at length discovered a congenial home. He plunged into the extreme of dangerous intimacy; and was soon domiciled in Mrs. Vernon's small mansion. It is absurd what trifles can extinguish friendships, and estrange affection. Mr. Vernon had always had the controul of his hours--loved his hookah, and his after-dinner dose. His brother's widow was an amiable person, but a great deal too independent, to humour any person's foibles. She liked activity, and disliked smoking; and was too matter-of-fact in her ideas, to conceive that these indulgences, merely from force of habit, might have now become absolute necessities. Mrs. Vernon first used arguments; which were listened to very patiently, and as systematically disregarded.