The Short Works of George Meredith

posterous and unwarrantable pen-and-ink sketches when living so closely proximate; and how he would behave was the question. Those who made a hero of h

able furnishing of fresh matter for her ladyship's hand. Of course he could not avoid being seen by her, and that was a particular misery. A gentlemanly humility, or demureness of aspect, when seen, would, he hoped, disarm his enemy. It should, he thought. He had borne unheard-of things. No one of his

is aunt's good heart. So, perhaps, having satiated her revenge, she

disappointment; 'poor Elizabeth! she little guesses what her father ha

his residence in a state of prickly heat that required the brushing of his

own; a pleasing promptitude, showing signs of repentance, and suggesting to the General instantly some sharp sarcas

ard to the maid, he stuck it

rdly less violently and mortally assailed. The deadliness of the attack lay in the ridicule of the daily habits of one of the most sensitive of men, as to his personal appearance, and the opinion of the world. He might have co

t in an attic to have the right view of me. And there you see-this is what she has done. This is the last, this is th

neral was displayed i

ee it,' he informed the gentlemen, w

ide the house; and that is death to me, or unless I abandon the place, and my lease; and I shall-I say, I shall find nowhere in England for anything lik

d to expostulate wi

now,' he confessed pitiably, 'what it is right to say, and what not-what not. I-I-I never know when I am not looking a

llow him, for Lady Camper would never forgive his running away, and

nd Elizabeth were mortally pale, and as the very idea of wretchedness directed his attention to himself, he addressed them c

y asunder with policeman's fists, while courteously and elegantly entreating them to hear him. 'Meet,' he tells them, 'as often as

me have said, that he should not have betrayed his daughter; but it is reasonable to suppose he had no idea of his daughter's being the Psyche. Or if he had, it was indistinct, owing to the violence of his personal emotion. Assuming this to have been the very sketch; he handed it to two or three ladies in turn,

al's renewed soliloquies, were seized with disgust of Lady Campe

, there must be more, I say I am sure there are things I do that her ladyship will discover and expose,' he declined to seek redress or simple protection; and the miserable spectacle was exhibited soon after of this courtly man listening to Mrs.

nd sighed over the wreck of

hat is your objec

ot seen?'-though but a few minutes back he had shown her the contents

spise him, both for his susceptibility and his patience. As for the men, they knew him to have faced the balls in bellowing battle-strife; they knew him to have endured privation, not only cold but downright want of food and drink-an almost unimaginable horror to these brave daily feasters; so they could not quit

ned order, with deaf square pews, permitting the mind to abstract itself from the sermon, or wrestle at leisure with the difficulties presented by the preacher, as G

her his enemy did not come. He had this one place

couple of yards of him but Lady Camper. Her pew was full of poor people, who made signs of retiring. She signi

the preacher's, was heard to repeat these words: 'I say I am not sure I sha

Ople strode to her aid. He pulled the door, gave the shadow of a respectful bow, and no doubt he would have withdrawn, had not Lady Camper, while acknowledging the civility, placed her prayer-book in his hands to carry at her heels. There was no choice for him. He made a sort of slipping dance back for his hat, and followed

a small pocket sketchbook. There are dogs whose shyness is put to it to endure human observation and a direct address to them, even on the part of their masters; and these dear simple dogs wag tail and turn their heads aside waveringly, as though to entreat you not to eye them and talk to

cannot, believe I am so perfectly, I say so perfectly ridiculous, when I join the responses.' He drew forth half a dozen sheets, and showed them sketches that Lady Camper had taken in church, caricaturing him in the sitting down and the standing up. S

re his girth, and found himself thinner than when he left the service, which had not been the case before his attendance at the last levee of

exclaimed Mr. Gosling, a gentleman of the City,

d you so seriously!'

uld feel it. I say it is the fact of it; I feel it, if I ap

y Campe

rated all his foibles fifty-fold, and he, though not liking it, of course not, would yet have preserved a certain manly equanimity. How was it Lady Camper had such power over him?-a lady concealing seventy years with a rouge-box or paint-pot! It was witchcraft in its