"
"May be so," cried the questioner, with a contemptuous glance;
"'different minds incline to different objects!' His has decided for
'the wonderful, the wild;' and a pretty finale he has made of his
choice!"
"Why, to be sure," observed another spectator, "young people should
be brought up with reasonable ideas of right and wrong, and prudence;
nevertheless, I should not like a son of mine to run harum-scarum
through my property, and his own life; and yet one cannot help, when
one hears such a brave speech as that from yonder Frenchman just gone
out,--I say one cannot help thinking it very fine." "True, true,"
cried the inquisitor; "you are right, sir; very fine indeed, but too
fine to wear; it would soon leave us acreless, as it has done him;
for it seems, by his own confession, he is penniless; and I know that
a twelvemonth ago he was an heir to a fortune which, however
incalculable, he has managed, with all his talents, to see the end
of."
"Then he is in distress!" exclaimed the clergyman, "and you know him.
What is his name?"
The man colored at this unexpected inference; and glad the company
had not attended to that part of the dialogue in which the name of
Sobieski was mentioned, he stammered some indistinct words, took up
his hat, and looking at his watch, begged pardon, having an
appointment, and hurried out of the room without speaking further;
although the good clergyman, whose name was Blackmore, hastened after
him, requesting to know where the young foreigner lived.
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