THE SIX OF SPADES. 87 



CHAPTER II. 

 MR. CHISWICK. 



WHEN young Mr. Chiswick, the gardener at the Hall, 

 made his first appearance in our village, he was 

 generally supposed to be an officer of cavalry on leave, 

 or a foreigner of distinction on his travels. Great 

 was the surprise accordingly, when, coming to church 

 the Sunday after his arrival, he took his place with 

 the domestics, and not with the Squire. Nevertheless, 

 though he fell in the social scale, he rose in the 

 estimation of our villagers. Here was a handsome 

 young fellow, with the neatest of moustaches and the 

 trimmest of beards, not come to marry Squire 

 Granville's daughter, and therefore no longer a 

 fascinating impossibility to the more humble maidens 

 around. Mademoiselle, Lady Constance's maid, at 

 the Castle, immediately traced in Mr. Chiswick's 

 lineaments a striking resemblance to the old French 

 noblesse ; the damsel who assisted at Lady Isabel's 

 toilet was sure that he had been accustomed to the 

 best society ; Miss Granville's attendant was forcibly 

 reminded of Lord Byron's "delightful Corsair; " and 

 all our unmarried beauties expressed their true 

 commiseration, " that such a pleasant young man 

 should be buried alive in that lonely cottage belonging 

 to the gardens at the Hall." 



There were dissentient voices, of course. Our 

 young men spoke slightingly of u Jews " and " barber's 

 blocks." Mrs. Verjuice, the housekeeper at the Grange, 



