166 RACECOUESE AND COVERT SIDE. 



him, also engaged with her correspondence in 

 the intervals of supplying large quantities of tea 

 to an elderly gentleman on her right, a cousin of 

 hers, whom we call Uncle John, and whose chief 

 characteristic is his peculiar faculty for rendering 

 himself miraculously unpleasant by saying the 

 most annoying things in the most hearty and 

 jovial tone of voice. Matilda and Jane, two 

 young ladies connected with the family, are also 

 present. Matilda wears a double eye-glass, 

 through which she watches for and tries to see 

 Uncle John's facetice : she is rather slow at 

 catching them, but, having thoroughly realized 

 one, she raises her head, and emits a short, 

 sharp laugh, which it distresses me to hear. 

 Jane had no special characteristic, except a 

 strong propensity for blushing ; and she looks 

 down at her plate, and indulges herself at 

 frequent intervals. 



It is with some diffidence that I refer to the 

 other occupant of the room. He — for to use the 

 third person in some degree takes off the appear- 

 ance of egotism from which my natural modesty 

 shrinks — is a young man of some four and twenty 

 years of age, who has now risen from the table 

 and leans against the mantel-piece. His figure 

 is tall and slight, his face pale, and fringed with 

 an incipient growth, which holds out ]3i'omise of 



