"Well, Sedley, what do you think of Miss Seymour?" exclaimed Webberly, as they rode leisurely home. "By Heavens! she is quite beautiful," returned his friend.--"She has the finest eyes and teeth I ever beheld."--"And fine oaks too, or she'd never do for me," rejoined her calculating admirer. A silence of some minutes ensued, which was at last broken by Sedley's observing, that "he had never seen such a profusion of silky hair." "For my part," resumed Webberly, "I like black hair much better: Miss Wildenheim is a thousand times handsomer than Miss Seymour!" Mr. Sedley neither contradicted nor assented to this observation, but with apparent _nonchalance_ turned the subject to that of shooting and hunting; which promised amusements had been his inducement for visiting Webberly House. The conversation was not again resumed, and they returned scarcely in time to dress for dinner, which the anxious Mrs. Sullivan declared would be quite "ruinated," assuring them, "the cook was always arranged and discordant by them there long preambulations a-horseback they were so fond of." CHAPTER XIII. "All is not empty whose low sound Reverbs no hollowness." KING LEAR. The excuse, which Mordaunt had made for his abrupt departure from Deane Hall, was not, in truth, totally devoid of foundation: for he had really received an invitation to join a party of college friends, on a tour to the Lakes; though such a cause would not alone have been sufficient to tear him from a scene, in which all his hopes and wishes were centred. Notwithstanding his being an enthusiastic admirer of the beauties of nature, and moreover a proficient in drawing, all the charms of the wild country he then visited were insufficient long to rivet his attention; and with an agitated mind and aching heart, he returned early in September to Oxford, of which he meant to take his final leave at the end of the following term. No profession had yet been determined on for him, for his uncle, Lord Osselstone, whose title he was one day to inherit, had never, in the least degree, interfered on the subject of his education; and the habit of procrastination, which was one of the principal failings of Sir Henry Seymour's character, had hitherto prevented his making the important choice. Thus the period of Mr. Mordaunt's minority had expired, before his guardian could be prevailed on to come to any final determination; and Augustus now deferred his own decision till the period, which would speedily arrive, of his quitting the University of Oxford.