Mrs.Roby dined in the Square very often, but Mr.Roby very seldom,--not probably above once a year, on some special occasion.

He and Mr.Wharton had married sisters, but they were quite unlike in character and had never become friends.
Mrs.Wharton had been nearly twenty years younger than her husband; Mrs.Roby had been six or seven years younger than her sister; and Mr.Roby was a year or two younger than his wife.

The two men therefore belonged to different periods of life, Mr.Roby at the present time being a florid youth of forty.

He had a moderate fortune, inherited from his mother, of which he was sufficiently careful; but he loved races, and read sporting papers; he was addicted to hunting and billiards; he shot pigeons, and,--so Mr.
Wharton had declared calumniously more than once to an intimate friend,--had not an H in his vocabulary.

The poor man did drop an aspirate now and again; but he knew his defect and strove hard, and with fair average success, to overcome it.