 pay me with Altamont's bill upon me. The
luck turned from that minute. Never held the box again for three mains, and came
away cleared out, leaving that infernal cheque behind me. How shall I pay it?
Blackland won't hold it over. Hulker &amp; Bullock will write about it directly
to her Ladyship. By Jove, Ned, I'm the most miserable brute in all England.«
    It was necessary for Ned to devise some plan to console the Baronet under
this pressure of grief; and no doubt he found the means of procuring a loan for
his patron, for he was closeted at Mr. Campion's offices that day for some time.
Altamont had once more a guinea or two in his pocket, with a promise of a
further settlement; and the Baronet had no need to wish himself dead for the
next two or three months at least. And Strong, putting together what he had
learned from the Colonel and Sir Francis, began to form in his own mind a pretty
accurate opinion as to the nature of the tie which bound the two men together.
 

                                  Chapter XLV

                          A Chapter of Conversations.

Every day after the entertainments at Grosvenor Place and Greenwich, of which we
have seen Major Pendennis partake, the worthy gentleman's friendship and
cordiality for the Clavering family seemed to increase. His calls were frequent;
his attentions to the lady of the house unremitting. An old man about town, he
had the good fortune to be received in many houses, at which a lady of Lady
Clavering's distinction ought also to be seen. Would her Ladyship not like to be
present at the grand entertainment at Gaunt House? There was to be a very pretty
breakfast ball at Viscount Marrowfat's, at Fulham. Everybody was to be there
(including august personages of the highest rank); and there was to be a Watteau
quadrille, in which Miss Amory would surely look charming. To these and other
amusements the obsequious old gentleman kindly offered to conduct Lady
Clavering, and was also ready to make himself useful to the Baronet in any way
agreeable to the latter.
    In spite of his present station and fortune, the world persisted in looking
rather coldly upon Clavering, and strange suspicious rumours followed him about.
He was blackballed at two clubs in succession. In the House of Commons, he only
conversed with a few of the most disreputable members of that famous body,
having a happy knack of choosing bad society, and adapting himself naturally to
it, as other people do to the company of their betters. To name all the senators
with
