“Well?” said Mr. Duberly interrogatively, for the terms on which he lived with his son-in-law warranted the reality as well as the appearance of curiosity,--“well, what says the enemy? We’re never going to say die, eh? I’ll tell you what, Arthur; rather than that, I’d pay five thousand pounds for you to the lawyers--five thousand! I’d pay ten to help keep your rights. It isn’t the money, but the principle that I think so much of. But, I say, what _does_ the old quill-driver write to you about? Let’s see the letter; or if you’d rather not, I--” “O no, sir; take it. It isn’t that, but it’s all such a beastly bore. You see he says that Houndsford’s opinion is against my chance; and if it is, what’s the use of not giving in? I don’t like the scandal of the thing, fighting a case against one’s own mother; and--” “Stuff and nonsense, boy; it’s milady’s doing, and not yours. It’s _her_ that’s setting it all a-going; and if you’ll take my advice, you’ll not give in till you’re obliged to. However, there’s time enough to talk of that by and by. Sophy’s been asking for you more than once, poor girl, whilst you was away; and as for the boy, he’s been holloring like a good ’un. _His_ lungs are sound enough, at any rate, bless him!” And “grandpapa,” after fixing his gold spectacles once more upon his nose, returned to the perusal of the newspaper, in which his soul delighted. Perhaps among the minor difficulties of social life there are none which are more often or more painfully felt than that almost insurmountable one of concealing from the watchful eyes of affection the heavy cares and inward anxieties from which we may be suffering. By the weaker sex, who are trained from infancy to the art of hiding their feelings under the cloak of reticence and decorum, the task is comparatively an easy one. Almost unconsciously, and as an affair of habit, they daily practise it, till practice makes perfect, and art becomes to them a second, and sometimes a more winning and graceful nature. But with men it is widely different. Even the best performers among them are apt to forget, to stumble over, or to overact their parts; and though they may sometimes succeed in deceiving one of their own sex, it rarely happens that the least observant of the other does not possess the moderate clear-sightedness requisite to lay a finger on the truth at once.