 very atmosphere that centaur has breathed,
seems tainted with the cart and ladder. Here, Peak. Bring some scent and
sprinkle the floor; and take away the chair he sat upon, and air it; and dash a
little of that mixture upon me. I am stifled!«
    The man obeyed; and the room and its master being both purified, nothing
remained for Mr. Chester but to demand his hat, to fold it jauntily under his
arm, to take his seat in the chair and be carried off; humming a fashionable
tune.
 

                                  Chapter XXIV

How the accomplished gentleman spent the evening in the midst of a dazzling and
brilliant circle; how he enchanted all those with whom he mingled by the grace
of his deportment, the politeness of his manner, the vivacity of his
conversation, and the sweetness of his voice; how it was observed in every
corner, that Chester was a man of that happy disposition that nothing ruffled
him, that he was one on whom the world's cares and errors sat lightly as his
dress, and in whose smiling face a calm and tranquil mind was constantly
reflected; how honest men, who by instinct knew him better, bowed down before
him nevertheless, deferred to his every word, and courted his favourable notice;
how people, who really had good in them, went with the stream, and fawned and
flattered, and approved, and despised themselves while they did so, and yet had
not the courage to resist; how, in short, he was one of those who are received
and cherished in society (as the phrase is) by scores who individually would
shrink from and be repelled by the object of their lavish regard; are things of
course, which will suggest themselves. Matter so common-place needs but a
passing glance, and there an end.
    The despisers of mankind - apart from the mere fools and mimics, of that
creed - are of two sorts. They who believe their merit neglected and
unappreciated, make up one class; they who receive adulation and flattery,
knowing their own worthlessness, compose the other. Be sure that the
coldest-hearted misanthropes are ever of this last order.
    Mr. Chester sat up in bed next morning, sipping his coffee, and remembering
with a kind of contemptuous satisfaction how he had shone last night, and how he
had been caressed and courted, when his servant brought in a very small scrap of
dirty paper, tightly sealed in two places, on the inside whereof was inscribed
in pretty large text these words. »A friend. Desiring of a conference.
Immediate. Private
