Any one but himself might observe that Markham was decidedly the favorite; but as for a long while Clara thought that he was engaged to Miss Henderson, she was herself scarcely aware of the existence, still less of the manifestation of any partiality for him. But Tippetson could always see it, inasmuch as he was a crafty man and full of design. And it is not improbable that seeing this he resolved on that scheme which he at last carried into execution. Although in some respect Markham may be called our hero, as Lord Trimmerstone is our anti-hero, yet as Lord Trimmerstone is not all that is bad, so neither is Markham a paragon of all possible and impossible excellence. What a stupid world it would be if we were all heroes! it would be like a great school of good boys. Now if Markham had been a true hero, he would have married Miss Henderson without any attempt at shuffling or delaying; and if he had been a true hero, he would also have been sadly grieved for Lord Trimmerstone’s loss, and he would have lamented Mr. Tippetson’s wickedness. But in spite of himself, he could not but feel pleased at Tippetson’s departure under circumstances which rendered his return as a suitor absolutely impossible. Unobservant and inattentive as he was, this movement of Mr. Tippetson came upon him with the suddenness and unpreparedness of a thunderbolt. And when soon after hearing the news of the elopement he received a brief from the plaintiff’s attorney, he looked over that brief with most prodigious attention; he saw hope in every line of it. Never before had he perused the long, dry, prosy details of a stupidly-drawn brief with one half the interest with which he perused this brief, in which the Earl of Trimmerstone was plaintiff, and Mr. Henry Augustus Tippetson defendant. While he was reading it, he could not but recollect the very complimentary epistle which he had once received from Miss Henderson in consequence of his dexterity and sagacity in a suit of a delicate nature. He had no wish to receive another epistle from the same quarter, nor would he have been much pleased had Clara in like manner complimented him on the present occasion. But he knew, or thought he knew, Clara better than to suppose that he should be thus complimented by her. Supposing that Tippetson was an accepted, or presumedly accepted lover of Clara, he thought it very natural that the present occurrence would be to her a painful event. He wished to console her, but he feared lest his offers of condolence might be repulsed or ungraciously accepted.