HORATIO S PARKINS. 155 



sentiments like these ? Miss Malderton/' here he stopped short 

 " may I hope to be permitted to offer the humble tribute of " 



" Really, Mr. Sparkins/' returned the enraptured Teresa, blushing 

 in the sweetest confusion, " I must refer you to papa. I never can 

 without his consent, venture to to " 



" Surely he cannot object " 



" Oh, yes. Indeed, indeed, you know him not," interrupted Miss 

 Teresa well knowing there was nothing to fear, but wishing to make 

 the interview resemble a scene in some romantic novel. 



" He cannot object to my offering you a glass of negus," returned 

 the adorable Sparkins, with some surprise. 



" Is that all !" said the disappointed Teresa to herself. " What a 

 fuss about nothing ! " 



" It will give me the greatest pleasure, sir, to see you to dinner at 

 Oak Lodge, Camberweii, on Sunday next, at five o'clock, if you have 

 no better engagement," said Mr. Malderton, at the conclusion of 

 the evening, as he and his sons were standing in conversation with 

 Mr. Horatio Sparkins. 



Horatio bowed his acknowledgments, and accepted the flatter ing 

 invitation. 



" I must confess," continued the manoeuvring father, offering his 

 snuff-box to his new acquaintance, "that I don't enjoy these assem- 

 blies half so much as the comfort I had almost said the luxury 

 of Oak Lodge : they have no great charms for an elderly man." 



" And, after all, sir, what is man ? '' said the metaphysical Spar- 

 kins (f I say, what is man ?" 



" Very true," said Mr. Malderton " very true." 



" We know that we live and breathe/' continued Horatio; " that 

 we have wants and wishes, desires and appetites -" 



" Certainly," said Mr. Frederick Malderton, looking very pro- 

 found. 



"I say, we know that we exist," repeated Horatio, raising his voice, 

 "but there we stop ; there is an end to our knowledge; there is the 

 summit of our attainments ; there is the termination of our ends. 

 What more do we know ? " 



" Nothing," replied Mr. Frederick than whom no one was more 

 capable of answering for himself in that particular. Tom was about 

 to hazard something, but, fortunately for his reputation, he caught 

 his father's angry eye, and slunk off like a puppy convicted of petty 

 larceny. 



" Upon my word," said Mr. Malderton the elder, as they were re- 

 turning home in the ' Fly,' " that Mr. Sparkins is a wonderful young 

 man. Such surprising knowledge ! such extraordinary information ! 

 and such a splendid mode of expressing himself!" 



" I think he must be somebody in disguise," said Miss Marianne. 

 " How charmingly romantic!" 



" He talks very loud, and nicely," timidly observed Tom, " but I 

 don't exactly understand what he means." 



" I almost begin to despair of your understanding any thing, Tom," 

 said his father, who, of course, had been much enlightened by Mr, 

 Horatio Sparkins' conversation. 



