OR WHICH WILL HE WED ? 406 



rang witli the warm echoes of old English hospitality, and the gladdened 

 yeomanry rejoiced in the too brief renewal of old English times. Colonel 

 and Mrs. Atherstone had bade an early adieu to St. James's, and, with 

 feelings of perfect satisfaction, had hastened back to their estate. Henry 

 promised speedily to join them, and as he had forsworn sporting, and 

 there was no one in town worth thinking of, he persuaded himself 

 into a belief that his Christmas sojourn would be, in some respects, more 

 agreeable than had been his summer abode. By the migratory flight of 

 his associates, civil and military, reduced at length to the companionship 

 of his cheroot, and the sole possession of a vacant embrasure at White's, 

 he suddenly discovered that he was on the point of being entirely for- 

 saken, and to avoid the deplorable ennui of this consummation he very 

 resolutely dashed out of town one fine morning towards the middle of 

 November. * » • 



** There it is, more gothic than ever !" half muttered the Hussar, 

 violently puffing out the smoke of his Havannah, when at the conclusion of 

 his journey the grey point of the Abbey, with its gothic windows and flying 

 buttresses, became visible through the leafless and venerable elms that, 

 in summer, formed a verdant avenue to the principal entrance. ** There 

 it is ! frowning as gloomily as it did, no doubt, in those days of monkish 

 ascendancy, when the crosier rose above the sceptre, and the crown of 

 royalty quailed before the jewelled mitre. Well ! well ! a man of sense 

 makes the best of his misfortunes, and I am determined to see every- 

 thing couleur-de-rosey But this determination was forgotten in the 

 instant that Mrs. Atherstone introduced to him, on his appearance in the 

 drawing-room, a lady infinitely surpassing herself in ugliness. ** My 

 dear Miss Werner, allow me to bespeak your favorable prepossession of 

 my brother. Captain Henry Atherstone, — Miss Werner." The party 

 addressed bowed ** awkwardly as a Hottentot," thought the Captain, 

 while the " ill-favoured and elderly" presented an admirable composure 

 of countenance. *' Sword of my ancestors 1 what a squaw ! what a 

 petrifying mor^eau of Indian deformity !" Such were the gallant 

 ejaculations mentally indulged in by the ardent worshipper of beauty, as 

 he half-retreated with positive alarm. And Miss Werner was, indis- 

 putably, plain to all intents and purposes. 



A candid observer would not have called her laidsy though her com- 

 plexion was dark and dingy enough to destroy the eflfect of features 

 which, under other circumstances, might have made a more agreeable 

 impression. A singularly coarse skin, a low forehead disfigured by an 

 unpleasant seam, and a pair of heavy eye-brows, beneath which, how- 

 ever, shone two eyes of unquestionable lustre, a tolerable nose, and large 

 lips, constituted the physiognomy of this lady. Of her figure we are 

 reluctantly compelled to speak less flatteringly : a single glimpse was 

 sufficient to indicate that it had never been moulded by the graces, and 

 that no Westmacott would choose it for a model; it was, in truth, l)road 

 and cumbrous, we may say Rubenesque, and the mortified glance of the 

 Captain descended to the Turkey carpet upon which it stood, to encounter 

 a pair of uncouth feet of more than customary dimensions. It was 

 enough — the demon of disgust took possession of his soul, and heartily 

 wishing himself at the bottom of the Nile, he withdrew to murmur over 

 his destiny while making some necessary alterations in his costume. 

 There were now two frights — two "swarthy, ill-favoured, and elderly" 

 libels upon feminine loveliness to mortify his vision perpetually, and 

 heighten, by reflection as it were, the effect of each other's hideousness. 

 He reverted to the almost spiritual beauty of the Lady Eleanor, and, as 

 he did so, double dissatisfaction preyed upon his spirit. Almost induced 



NO, VI. 3 H 



