“Shall pay my visits and rejoice in my hat.”
“Good day to you; by the by, your friend, Maltravers, has just passed, looking thoughtful, and talking to himself. What’s the matter with him?”
“Lamenting, perhaps, that he, too, does not wear an odd hat for gentlemen like you to laugh at, and leave the rest of him in peace. Good day.”
On went Ferrers, and soon found himself in the Mall of the Park. Here he was joined by Mr. Templeton.
“Well, Lumley,” said the latter (and it may be here remarked that Mr. Templeton now exhibited towards his nephew a greater respect of manner and tone than he had thought it necessary to observe before)—“well, Lumley, and have you seen Lord Saxingham?”
“I have, sir; and I regret to say—”
“I thought so—I thought it,” interrupted Templeton: “no gratitude in public men—no wish, in high place, to honour virtue!”
“Pardon me; Lord Saxingham declares that he should be delighted to forward your views—that no man more deserves a peerage; but that—”
“Oh, yes; always buts!”
“But that there are so many claimants at present whom it is impossible to satisfy; and—and—but I feel I ought not to go on.”