A little gold lid flew up, and disclosed the snuff-box hidden inside.

He took a pinch, and chuckled satirically over some passing thought, which he did not think it necessary to communicate to his young friend.
"I talk as if I was a stranger here, do I ?" he resumed.

"That's exactly what I am.

Lady Lundie and I correspond on excellent terms; but we run in different grooves, and we see each other as seldom as possible.

My story," continued the pleasant old man, with a charming frankness which leveled all differences of age and rank between Arnold and himself, "is not entirely unlike yours; though I _am_ old enough to be your grandfather.