in his youth he produced a witty and improper novel which everybody said it was impossible to read and everybody promptly read it affected to be now he has ceased to be � at all events in print � laid to heart the golden that public confession of the sins of others is on the whole an even more paying speculation than public confession of sins of your own i am afraid he has also ceased to be witty that is a matter for regret looked hard at me sounds a bit of a i think he said but very likely i m wrong i see i don t catch on to a whole heap of subjects you are all talking about i have stayed out of england too long and your ideas at home have run clean away from me you are all speaking a language i don t know half the time he stared at the stool still lying wrong way up on the marble floor and then kicked it aside with a sudden why the didn t i come home six years ago for good he said i was worth a tidy lot even then i was younger was younger � one was more in touch and then perhaps too the i should never have seen that brute of a � oh well i beg your pardon i must have bored you enough and to spare with my own already meet you at dinner all right � vm going for my walk chapter iv i was called away to for a couple of days to meet a friend � who does not enter into this history so we will if you please leave her out of it i returned rather depressed by an afternoon boat that was packed with an plain headed selection of of all nations they named the mountains by the help of red the beauties of nature smoked tobacco freely and were otherwise objectionable to almost every sense yet if you could your mind from the of surrounding humanity the aspect of nature was very rain had fallen in the early morning and the fresh washed landscape wore a delightfully clean and youthful look the hotels and on the north shore of the lake shone out among their rich and gardens while the lake itself a heavenly floor showing all shades from to was turned up with the most bottle green at the edges the were likewise shot with lights upon their and with a the bloom of woods about their feet the are nothing but a nation of de granted but it must be they have the merit of selling the contents of their stock pots in an admirably pretty country on the first person i saw � the heavy porter in top trousers who managed the gang plank � was mr he appeared worried he up and down over the black of the pier and clung to the rusty the lovely of the lake with irritable eyes at intervals he hailed some � to me � object in the far distance and with a white umbrella catching sight of me he saluted me with of this instrument ah i you are back again mr he cried and all our little society will be most happy to welcome you back � i m sure most happy even in so purely an association of our fellow creatures even in the passing relations of an hotel we miss the accustomed face the vacant place at table raises a regret i expressed my sense of for these polite observations but mr had returned to his agitated survey of the lake excuse me he exclaimed i think i perceive them he climbed upon the cross bar of the rails with surprising and gave forth a really howl coming in that direction you must have seen them in passing mr in the steamer he said turning suddenly and almost angrily upon me after waiting vainly for some response to this terrible noise did you not them who and what are they i ventured to inquire has taken my daughter out � mr descended from his perch � no i was in error i did not perceive them nor evidently did you he removed his hat and wiped his forehead i may mention that mr invariably wore a tall hat at this period and black clothes after which ceremony he somewhat recovered his no no he cried we must school ourselves we must school ourselves � to wait and hope and still to hope and wait last lesson by man of heaven directed fate but i am not among the mr i can look forward i am thankful to say and look up all of which unquestionably was very on the part of mr but a little too large so it struck me for the immediate situation i pointed out that the young people were in no the danger that disaster was wholly improbable the sky being absolutely clear the water as smooth as a ah you me mr rejoined � he carried his head on one side and nodded looking up from under his eyebrows � you me i fear other dangers than material ones just now � a father s anxieties natural and not i think where the future of so dear an object as an only daughter is concerned frankly then � for in speaking to you i speak to a man of the world mr � our charming friends mrs and mr have called they are actually here they are indoors with mamma and it me he said i cannot disguise from myself that it me profoundly my daughter should not be at home to receive them shows himself in her so long i thought it probable our friends would visit us this afternoon and i gave him a pretty broad hint on the subject i regret to say but you must have observed it 