Assuming De Stancy to be a husband, he felt there might be some excuse for his remark; if unmarried, Somerset liked the satire still better; in such circumstances there was a relief in the thought that Captain De Stancy's prejudices might be infinitely stronger than those of his sister or father.
'Going to-morrow, did you say, Mr.Somerset ?' asked Miss De Stancy.
'Then will you dine with us to-day?
My father is anxious that you should do so before you go.

I am sorry there will be only our own family present to meet you; but you can leave as early as you wish.' Her brother seconded the invitation, and Somerset promised, though his leisure for that evening was short.

He was in truth somewhat inclined to like De Stancy; for though the captain had said nothing of any value either on war, commerce, science, or art, he had seemed attractive to the younger man.

Beyond the natural interest a soldier has for imaginative minds in the civil walks of life, De Stancy's occasional manifestations of taedium vitae were too poetically shaped to be repellent.

Gallantry combined in him with a sort of ascetic self-repression in a way that was curious.