The same dictatorialness and sharp tongue; the
same thinly-veiled insolence to Duncan; the same swift smiles from his
entrancing lips--thank Heaven undisfigured by any moustache--to myself;
the same unalterable gentleness to Janet. His invariable courtesy to
Duncan's wife made me very happy. It was as I said: there was much good
in the boy.
Paul had a little money of his own to begin with, and I did think
Duncan, with his fortune, might have sent an exceptionally clever lad
like that to one of the Universities, and made something of him
afterwards--a lawyer, say; but instead of that, Paul was put into
business in London, and, I was glad to hear, was doing very well.
As for Duncan's hideous white brick castle, with its paltry half-dozen
acres, entered by lodges of the utmost pretension, and his coach-houses
full of flashy carriages, with the family coat-of-arms(!) upon each, I
thought the whole place one of the most contemptible patches of snobbery
on this fair earth; and I was glad my father's toil-bleared eyes were
hid in the grave, so that they should not have the shame of resting upon
it.
In spite of what I thought, however, I did my best to keep a solemn face
at Paul's smart speeches, which were often amusing, and often simply
impudence.
Duncan, as of yore, went as though he saw him not.
I had not been at Duncan's palace long before I came to the conclusion
that there was some private understanding betwixt the two young people;
and, at last, just before I left, my suspicions were confirmed.
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