Every thing bespoke the season of one of those migratory disorders, which, at certain periods, depopulate London. Still, one mansion, which the time ought to have unpeopled, was evidently inhabited; and in one of its rooms—small, but luxurious enough for a sultana in the Arabian Nights, or a young gentleman of the present day—were seated two persons in earnest conversation.
After a time, one of them—it was Mr. Delawarr—rose and left the room, saying, "I own the truth of your remarks—it makes good the observation, that a bystander sees more of the game than those who are playing;—and now let me remind you of the assistance you can render me; that will be a more powerful motive than all I could urge of your own ambition and advancement."
Lorraine rose, and paced the room in an excited and anxious mood: he felt conscious of his own great powers, and of the many advantages he possessed for bringing them into action. But pleasures are always most delightful when we look back upon, or forward to them: and he felt an indolent reluctance to turn from the voice of the charmer—charm she never so wisely—and assume those enduring habits of
