All the men around him were his equals in every respect, and yet there was not one of them who did not accept a position of quiet, unresisting inferiority to him for the sake of his bad temper and his bad tongue. It was “his way,” they said, and they bore it. He was a consummate adept in all the details of a household; and his dinners were perfection, his wine good, and his servants drilled to the very acme of discipline. These were not mean accessories to any pretension; and as they sat over their claret, a pleasanter and more social tone succeeded than the complaining spirit of their host had at first promised. The talk was chiefly professional. Pipeclay will ever assert its pre-eminence, and with reason, for it is a grand leveller; and Digges, who joined three months ago, may have the Army List as well by heart as the oldest major in the service: and so they discussed, Where was Hobson? what made Jobson sell out? how did Bobson get out of that scrape with the paymaster? and how long will Dobson be able to live at his present rate in that light-cavalry corps? Everything that fell from them showed the most thorough intimacy with the condition, the fortune, and the prospects of the men they discussed,--familiarity there was enough of, but no friendship. No one seemed to trouble himself whether the sick-leave or the sell-out meant hopeless calamity,--all were dashed with a species of well-bred fatalism that was astonished with nothing, rejoiced at nothing, repined at nothing. “I wish Trafford would make up his mind!” cried one. “Three weeks ago he told me positively he would leave, and now I hear he offered Craycroft three thousand pounds to retire from the majority.” “That 's true; Craycroft told me so himself; but old Joe is a wily bird, and he 'll not be taken so easily.” “He's an eldest son now!” broke in another. “What does he care whether he be called major or captain?” “An eldest son!” cried Sewell, suddenly; “how is that? When I met him at the Cape, he spoke of an elder brother.” “So he had, then, but he's 'off the hooks.'” “I don't think it matters much,” said the Colonel. “The bulk of the property is disentailed, and Sir Hugh can leave it how he likes.” “That's what I call downright shameful,” said one; but he was the minority, for a number of voices exclaimed,--“And perfectly right; that law of primogeniture is a positive barbarism.” While the dispute waxed warm and noisy, Sewell questioned the Colonel closely about Trafford,--how it happened that the entail was removed, and why there was reason to suppose that Sir Hugh and his son were not on terms of friendship.