Her eye wandered quickly over that riotous and disorderly assemblage, until it settled upon one group more riotous and disorderly than the rest, of which her son formed the principal figure.

The agonized mother could scarcely repress a scream at the spectacle that met her gaze.

There sat Jack, evidently in the last stage of intoxication, with his collar opened, his dress disarranged, a pipe in his mouth, a bowl of punch and a half-emptied rummer before him,--there he sat, receiving and returning, or rather attempting to return,--for he was almost past consciousness,--the blandishments of a couple of females, one of whom had passed her arm round his neck, while the other leaned over the back of his chair and appeared from her gestures to be whispering soft nonsense into his ear.
Both these ladies possessed considerable personal attractions.

The younger of the two, who was seated next to Jack, and seemed to monopolize his attention, could not be more than seventeen, though her person had all the maturity of twenty.

She had delicate oval features, light, laughing blue eyes, a pretty _nez retrousse_, (why have we not the term, since we have the best specimens of the feature ?) teeth of pearly whiteness, and a brilliant complexion, set off by rich auburn hair, a very white neck and shoulders,--the latter, perhaps, a trifle too much exposed.