And, when another old friend was in the neighbourhood, close by,--one of the oldest friends I have in the world,--wasn't I to go and see her?
God bless my soul! What business is it of yours?
I never heard such impudence in my life!" Let the charitable reader suppose that Colonel Osborne did not know that he was lying,--that he really thought, when he spoke, that he had gone down to Lessboro' to see the remarkable piece of antiquity.
"Good morning," said Hugh Stanbury, turning on his heels and walking away.

Colonel Osborne shook himself, inflated his cheeks, and blew forth the breath out of his mouth, put his thumbs up to the armholes of his waistcoat, and walked about the platform as though he thought it to be incumbent on him to show that he was somebody,--somebody that ought not to be insulted,--somebody, perhaps, whom a very pretty woman might prefer to her own husband, in spite of a small difference in age.

He was angry, but not quite so much angry as proud.

And he was safe, too.

He thought that he was safe.