Well, well! that’s handsome, he replied. Wait the going of a few short weeks, and you’ll find him in my will. There is something more than meets the eye in this circumstance of the horse, or we should not have inserted it. The guests in the mean time were coming in, and at an early hour the castle-bell rang out for dinner. At this instant the heir of the Owens made his appearance in his hunting uniform, and booted. He apologised for this by saying he had not quitted the saddle, that he might be in time to pay his compliments to Mr. De Lancaster within the hour, that was specified on his card. All this was very well, and Mr. David Owen was most courteously welcomed by Mr. De Lancaster and the inmates of his family. John made his bow, and Mr. Owen fell in with the company, who were now summoned to the dinner room, and took his seat at table. Hospitality without parade, and festivity without excess was the character of an entertainment projected and conducted by the presiding genius of Cecilia De Lancaster. Mr. David Owen assumed a certain consequential style and carriage, which strongly indicated, that he knew himself as the heir of his uncle’s title and estate, and that he saw the hour at hand, which was to put him in possession of both. A set of vulgar companions, who frequented his uncle’s table, had blown him up with flattery, whilst they were sapping the constitution of poor Sir Owen with their sottish debaucheries, which, if Mrs. David Owen took no ostensible measures to encourage, she certainly used no efforts to prevent: of her maternal authority she made no use, nor indeed could any be made, for it was completely dispensed with. Nature in the meanwhile had not done much for the young gentleman, and education very little; yet he was not without talents of a certain sort, and whenever opportunity offered for employing them, diffidence never stood in his way. He had the cunning of a Jew, and the haughtiness of a Spaniard: ridicule was his passion, and mimicry, particularly of his uncle, what he most excelled in. He had black piercing eyes, an aquiline nose and Moorish complexion, a high shrill voice, and when he wrinkled up his features into a smile, it was the grin of malice and derision. CHAPTER VI. _Occurrences at Kray Castle during the Assembly of the Minstrels._ When the repast was over, and the glass had cheerfully, yet temperately, circulated, the doors of the great hall were thrown open: a scaffolding containing seats for the company, and a stage for the performers had been prepared, and the audience was full. Old De Lancaster, encircled by his guests, made the central figure of the assembly, and his entrance was hailed by a chorus of harps, joining in the popular air--_Of a noble race was Shenkin_.