“And that reminds me I promised to be back to tea with her,” said Barrington; and renewing with all warmth his invitation to Stapylton, and cordially taking leave of his old friend, he left the house and hastened to his hotel. “What a delightful evening I have passed, Dinah!” said he, cheerfully, as he entered. “Which means that the Attorney-General gave you a grand review and sham fight of all the legal achievements of the term; but bear in mind, brother, there is no professional slang so odious to me as the lawyer's, and I positively hate a joke which cost six-and-eightpence, or even three-and-fourpence.” < “Nothing of this kind was there at all, Dinah! Withering had a friend with him, a very distinguished soldier, who had seen much Indian service, and entered with a most cordial warmth into poor George's case. He knew it,--as all India knows it, by report,--and frankly told us where our chief difficulties lay, and the important things we were neglecting.” “How generous! of a perfect stranger too!” said she, with a scarcely detectable tone of scorn. “Not--so to say--an utter stranger, for George was known to him by reputation and character.” “And who is, I suppose I am to say, your friend, Peter?” “Captain or Major Stapylton, of the Regent's Hussars?” “Oh! I know him,--or, rather, I know of him.” “What and how, Dinah? I am very curious to hear this.” “Simply, that while young Conyers was at the cottage he showed me a letter from that gentleman, asking him in the Admiral's name, to Cobham, and containing, at the same time, a running criticism on the house and his guests far more flippant than creditable.” “Men do these things every day, Dinah, and there is no harm in it.” “That all depends upon whom the man is. The volatile gayety of a high-spirited nature, eager for effect and fond of a sensation, will lead to many an indiscretion; but very different from this is the well-weighed sarcasm of a more serious mind, who not only shots his gun home, but takes time to sight ere he fires it. I hear that Captain Stapylton is a grand, cold, thoughtful man, of five or six-and-thirty. Is that so?” “Perhaps he may be. He 's a splendid fellow to look at, and all the soldier. But you shall see for yourself, and I 'll warrant you 'll not harbor a prejudice against him.” “Which means, you have asked him on a visit, brother Peter?” “Scarcely fair to call it on a visit, Dinah,” blundered he out, in confusion; “but I have said with what pleasure we should see him under our roof when we returned.” “I solemnly declare my belief, that if you went to a cattle-show you 'd invite every one you met there, from the squire to the pig-jobber, never thinking the while that nothing is so valueless as indiscriminate hospitality, even if it were not costly. Nobody thanks you,--no one is grateful for it.”