CHAPTER VII.
SAVILLE EXCUSED FOR HAVING HUMAN AFFECTIONS .-- GODOLPHIN SEES ONE WHOM HE NEVER SEES AGAIN .-- THE NEW ACTRESS.
Saville was deemed the consummate man of the world--wise and heartless.
How came he to take such gratuitous pains with the boy Godolphin?
In the first place, Saville had no legitimate children; Godolphin was his relation; in the second place it may be observed that hackneyed and sated men of the world are fond of the young, in whom they recognise something--a better something belonging to themselves.

In Godolphin's gentleness and courage, Saville thought he saw the mirror of his own crusted urbanity and scheming perseverance; in Godolphin's fine imagination and subtle intellect he beheld his own cunning and hypocrisy.

The boy's popularity flattered him; the boy's conversation amused.

No man is so heartless but that he is capable of strong likings, when they do not put him much out of his way; it was this sort of liking that Saville had for Godolphin.

Besides, there was yet another reason for attachment, which might at first seem too delicate to actuate the refined voluptuary; but examined closely, the delicacy vanished.