way into the room which had shed its cheerfulness upon the street to whose occupants he introduced mr as a gentleman from england whose acquaintance he had recently had the pleasure to make they gave him welcome in all courtesy and politeness and in less than five minutes time he found himself sitting very much at his ease by the fireside and becoming vastly well acquainted with the whole family there were two ladies � one eighteen the other � both very slender but very pretty their mother who looked as martin thought much older and more faded than she ought to have looked and their grandmother a little sharp eyed quick old woman who seemed to have got past that stage and to have come all right again besides these there were the young ladies father and the young ladies brother the first engaged in affairs the a student at both in a certain cordiality of manner like his own friend and not unlike him in face which was no great wonder for it soon appeared that he was their near relation martin could not help tracing the family from the two young ladies because they were foremost in his thoughts not only from being as very pretty but by reason of their wearing small shoes and the possible silk stockings the which their rocking chairs developed to a extent there is no doubt that it was a monstrous comfortable and op circumstance to be sitting in a snug well room by a fire and of various pleasant including four small shoes and the like of silk stockings and yes why not � the feet and legs therein and there is no doubt that martin was monstrous well disposed to regard his position in that l ht after his recent experience of the screw and of mrs s boarding house the consequence was that he made himself very agreeable indeed and by the time the tea and coffee arrived with sweet preserves and cunning in its train was in a highly genial state and much esteemed by the whole family another delightful turned up before the first cup of tea was drunk the whole family had been in england there was a pleasant thing but martin was not quite so glad of this when he found that they knew all the great lords knights and quite affectionately and were beyond everything interested in the least particular concerning them however when they asked after the of this or that and said was he quite well martin answered yes oh yes never better and when they said his s mother the was she much changed martin said oh dear no they would know her anywhere if they saw her to morrow and so got on pretty well in like manner when the young ladies questioned him touching the gold fish in that fountain in such and such a nobleman s and whether there were as many as there used to be he gravely reported after mature consideration that there must be at least twice as and as to the oh well it was of no use talking about them they must be seen to be believed which improved state of circumstances reminded the family of the splendour of that brilliant festival the whole british and court to which they were specially invited and which indeed had been partly given in their honour and recollections of what mr the father had said to the and of what mrs the mother had said to the and of what the and had both said when they said that upon their words and honours they wished mr the father and mrs the mother and the the daughters and mr martin junior the son would only take up their permanent residence in england and give them the pleasure of their everlasting occupied a very considerable time thought it rather strange and in some sort inconsistent that during the whole of these and in the very of their enjoyment thereof both mr the father and mr the son who every post with four members of the english enlarged upon the advantage of having no such arbitrary distinctions in that enlightened land where there were no but nature s and where all society was based on one broad level of love and natural equality indeed mr the father gradually into an on this swelling theme was becoming tedious when mr diverted his thoughts by happening to make some casual inquiry relative to the of the next house in reply to which this same mi the father observed that that x entertained religious opinions of which he couldn t approve and therefore he hadn t the honour of knowing the gentleman mrs the mother added another reason of her own the same in effect but in words to wit that she believed the people were well enough in their way but they were not genteel another little trait came out which impressed itself on martin forcibly mr told them about mark and the negro and then it appeared that all the were it was a great relief to hear this and martin was so much encouraged on finding himself in such company that he expressed his sympathy with the oppressed and wretched now one of the young ladies � the prettiest and most delicate one � was amused at the earnestness with which he spoke and on his craving leave to ask her why was quite unable for a time to speak for laughing as soon however as she could she told him that the were such a funny people so excessively ludicrous in their manners and appearance that it was wholly impossible for those who knew them well to associate any serious ideas with such a very absurd part of the creation mr the father and mrs the mother and miss the sister and mr junior the brother and even mrs senior the grandmother were all of this 