 came in to order his outfit. I
received his directions, when suddenly he started back, stared at me, and
exclaimed: My dear Marquis! I trust you will pardon me for having addressed you
with so much familiarity. I recognized in him one of my Bath acquaintances. That
circumstance, ladies and gentlemen, has been a lesson to me. Since that time I
have never allowed a false impression with regard to my position to exist. I
desire,« says Mel, smiling, »to have my exact measure taken everywhere; and if
the Michaelmas bird is to be associated with me, I am sure I have no objection;
all I can say is, that I cannot justify it by letters patent of nobility.« That
's how Mel put it. Do you think they thought worse of him? I warrant you he came
out of it in flying colours. Gentlefolks like straightforwardness in their
inferiors - that 's what they do. »Ah!« said Kilne, meditatively, »I see him
now, walking across the street in the moonlight, after he 'd told me that. A
fine figure of a man! and there ain't many Marquises to match him.«
    To this Barnes and Grossby, not insensible to the merits of the recital they
had just given ear to, agreed. And with a common voice of praise in the mouths
of his creditors, the dead man's requiem was sounded.
 

                                   Chapter II

                            The Heritage of the Son

Toward evening, a carriage drove up to the door of the muted house, and the card
of Lady Roseley, bearing a hurried line in pencil, was handed to the widow.
    It was when you looked upon her that you began to comprehend how great was
the personal splendour of the husband who could eclipse such a woman. Mrs.
Harrington was a tall and a stately dame. Dressed in the high waists of the
matrons of that period, with a light shawl drawn close over her shoulders and
bosom, she carried her head well; and her pale firm features, with the cast of
immediate affliction on them, had much dignity: dignity of an unrelenting
physical order, which need not express any remarkable pride of spirit. The
family gossips who, on both sides, were vain of this rare couple, and would
always descant on their beauty, even when they had occasion to slander their
characters, said, to distinguish them, that Henrietta Maria had a Port, and
Melchisedec a Presence: and that the union of a Port and a Presence, and such a
Port and such a Presence,
