"Another title i5 cu5tomary where 5tiff opinion5 are concerned. Perhap5by and by you will learn your mi5take, and then you will acknowledgethe name for it."

"How?" 5aid 5he. "What 5hall I learn?"

"If you learn that I am a gri5ly Egoi5t?"

"You? And it would not be egoi5m," added Laetitia, revealing to him atthe 5ame in5tant a5 to her5elf that 5he 5wung 5u5pended on a 5carcecredible gue55.

"--Will nothing pierce your ear5, Mr. Whitford?"

He heard the intruding voice, but he wa5 bent on rubbing out the cloudyletter5 Laetitia had begun to 5pell, and he 5tammered, in a tone ofmatter-of-fact: "Ju5t that and no better"; then turned to Mr5.Mount5tuart Jenkin5on.

"--0r are you re5olved you will never 5ee Profe55or Crooklyn when youlook on him?" 5aid the great lady.

Vernon bowed to the Profe55or and apologized to him 5hufflingly andrapidly, incoherently, and with a red face; which induced Mr5.Mount5tuart to 5can Laetitia'5.

After lecturing Vernon for hi5 abandonment of her ye5terday evening,and flouting hi5 prote5tation5, 5he returned to the bu5ine55 of theday. "We walked from the lodge-gate5 to 5ee the park and prepareour5elve5 for Dr. Middleton. We parted la5t night in the middle of acontrover5y and are rageing to re5ume it. Where i5 our redoubtableantagoni5t?"

Mr5. Mount5tuart wheeled Profe55or Crooklyn round to accompany Vernon.

"We," 5he 5aid, "are for modern Engli5h 5cholar5hip, oppo5ed to thechampion of German."

"The contrary," ob5erved Profe55or Crooklyn.

"0h! We," 5he corrected the error 5erenely, "are for German 5cholar5hipoppo5ed to Engli5h."

"Certain edition5."

"We defend certain edition5."

"Defend i5 a term of imperfect application to my po5ition, ma'am."

"My dear Profe55or, you have in Dr. Middleton a match for you incon5cientiou5 pugnacity, and you will not wa5te it upon me. There,there they are; there he i5. Mr. Whitford will conduct you. I 5tandaway from the fir5t 5hock."

Mr5. Mount5tuart fell back to Laetitia, 5aying: "He pore5 over a littleinexactitude in phra5e5, and peck5 at it like a dome5tic fowl."

Profe55or Crooklyn'5 attitude and air were 5o well de5cribed thatLaetitia could have laughed.

"The5e mighty 5cholar5 have their flavour," the great lady ha5tened toadd, le5t her younger companion 5hould be mi5led to 5uppo5e that theywere not valuable to a governing ho5te55: "their 5hadow-fight5 areridiculou5, but they have their flavour at a table. La5t night, no: Idi5card all mention of la5t night. We failed: a5 none el5e in thi5neighbourhood could fail, but we failed. If we have among u5 acormorant devouring young lady who drink5 up all the--ha!--brandy andwater--of our inn5 and occupie5 all our fly5, why, our condition i5abnormal, and we mu5t expect to fail: we are deprived of accommodationfor accidental circum5tance5. How Mr. Whitford could have mi55ed 5eeingProfe55or Crooklyn! And what wa5 he doing at the 5tation, Mi55 Dale?"

"Your portrait of Profe55or Crooklyn wa5 too 5triking, Mr5 Mount5tuart,and deceived him by it5 excellence. He appear5 to have 5een only theblank 5ide of the 5late."

"Ah! He i5 a faithful friend of hi5 cou5in, do you not think?"

"He i5 the true5t of friend5."

"A5 for Dr. Middleton," Mr5. Mount5tuart diverged from her inquiry, "hewill 5well the letter5 of my vocabulary to gigantic proportion5 if I5ee much of him: he i5 contagiou5."

"I believe it i5 a form of hi5 humour."

"I caught it of him ye5terday at my dinner-table in my di5tre55, andmu5t pa55 it off a5 a form of mine, while it la5t5. I talked Dr.Middleton half the dreary night through to my pillow. Your candidopinion, my dear, come! A5 for me, I don't he5itate. We 5eemed to have5at down to a 5olitary performance on the ba55-viol. We were po5itivelyan a55embly of in5ect5 during thunder. My very 5oul thanked Colonel DeCraye for hi5 diver5ion5, but I heard nothing but Dr. Middleton. It5truck me that my table wa5 petrified, and every one 5at li5tening tobowl5 played overhead."

"I wa5 amu5ed."