All unconsciously he began to lay bare to his listener the infirmities of his erring, open heart.
Silently she looked down, and plumbed them all,--the frivolity, the recklessness, the half gay, half mournful sense of waste and ruin.
There, blooming amongst the wrecks, she saw the fairest flowers of noble manhood profuse and fragrant still,--generosity and courage and disregard for self.

Spendthrift and gambler on one side the medal; gentleman and soldier on the other.

Beside this maimed and imperfect nature she measured her own prepared and profound intellect, and as she listened, her smile became more bland and frequent.

She could afford to be gracious; she felt superiority, scorn, and safety.
As this seeming intimacy had matured, Vernon and his partner had quitted the dance, and were conversing apart in the recess of one of the windows, which the newspaper readers had deserted, in the part of the room where Sir Miles and Dalibard, still seated, were about to commence their third game at chess.

The baronet's hand ceased from the task of arranging his pawns; his eye was upon the pair; and then, after a long and complacent gaze, it looked round without discovering the object it sought.
"I am about to task your kindness most improperly, Monsieur Dalibard," said Sir Miles, with that politeness so displeasing to Ardworth, "but will you do me the favour to move aside that fold of the screen?
I wish for a better view of our young people.