“So you do. They want a clever lawyer, now and then, to help them on with a peerage case; or, if the country grows forgetful of them, they attract some notice by asking a lucky general to join them; and even then they do it the way a set of old ladies would offer a seat in the coach to a stout-looking fellow on a road beset with robbers,--they hope he 'll fight for 'em; but, after all, it takes about three generations before one of these new hands gets regularly recognized by the rest.” “What haughty pride!” exclaimed she; but nothing in her tone implied reprobation. “Ain't it haughty pride?” cried he; “but if you only knew how it is nurtured in them, how they are worshipped! They walk down St. James's Street, and the policeman elbows me out of the way to make room for them; they stroll into Tattersall's, and the very horses cock their tails and step higher as they trot past; they go into church, and the parson clears his throat and speaks up in a fine round voice for them. It's only because the blessed sun is not an English institution, or he 'd keep all his warmth and light for the peerage!” “And have they, who render all this homage, no shame for their self-abasement?” “Shame! why, the very approach to them is an honor. When a lord in the ring at Newmarket nods his head to me and says, 'How d' ye do, Davis?' my pals--my acquaintances, I mean--are twice as respectful to me for the rest of the day. Not that _I_ care for that,” added he, sternly; “I know _them_ a deuced sight better than they fancy!--far better than _they_ know _me!_” Lizzy fell into a revery; her thoughts went back to a conversation she had once held with Beecher about the habits of the great world, and all the difficulties to its approach. “I wish I could dare to put a question to you, papa,” said she, at last. “Do so, girl. I 'll do my best to answer it” “And not be angry at my presumption,--not be offended with me?” “Not a bit. Be frank with me, and you 'll find me just as candid.” “What I would ask, then, is this,--and mind, papa, it is in no mere curiosity, no idle indulgence of a passing whim I would ask it, but for sake of self-guidance and direction,--who are we?--what are we?” The blood rose to Davis's face and temples till he became crimson; his nostrils dilated, and his eyes flashed with a wild lustre. Had the bitterest insult of an enemy been hurled at his face before the open world, his countenance could not have betrayed an expression of more intense passion. “By heaven!” said he, with a long-drawn breath, “I did n't think there was one in Europe would have asked me that much to my face. There's no denying it, girl, you have my own pluck in you.” “If I ever thought it would have moved you so--” “Only to make me love you the more, girl,--to make me know you for my own child in heart and soul,” cried he, pressing her warmly to him. “But I would not have cost you this emotion, dearest pa--”