unsullied purity of his moral reputation. But to his friends, he seemed only the agreeable, clever, lively, and, if we may use the phrase innocently, the worldly man—never affecting a superior sanctity, or an over-anxiety to forms, except upon great occasions; and rendering his austerity of manners the more admired, because he made it seem so unaccompanied by hypocrisy.
"Well," said Brandon, as he sat after dinner alone with his relations, and had seen the eyes of his brother close in diurnal slumber,—"tell me, Miss Lucy, what you think of Lord Mauleverer; do you find him agreeable?"
"Very; too much so, indeed!"
"Too much so! that is an uncommon fault, Lucy; unless you mean to insinuate that you find him too agreeable for your peace of mind."
"Oh, no! there is little fear of that; all that I meant to express was, that he seems to make it the sole business of his life to be agreeable; and that one imagines he had gained that end by the loss of certain qualities which one would have liked better."
"Umph! and what are they?"
