Emmy, wistfully. "They were always very cold to me."

CHAPTER XXI.

A QUARREL ABOUT AN HEIRESS.

LOVE may be felt for any young lady endowed with such qualities as Miss Swartz possessed; and a great dream of ambition entered into old Mr. Osborne's soul, which she was to realize. He encouraged, with the utmost enthusiasm and friendliness, his daughters' amiable attachment to the young heiress, and protested that it gave him the sincerest pleasure, as a father, to see the love of his girls so well disposed.

My dear child, they would have loved you if you had had two hundred thousand pounds," George replied. "That is the way in which they have been brought up. Ours is a ready-money society. We live among bankers and city big-wigs, and be hanged to them, and every man, as he talks to you, is jingling his guineas in his pocket. There's that jackass, Fred. Bullock, is going to marry Maria-there's Goldmore, the East India Director, there's Dipley, in the tallow trade-our trade," George "You won't find," he would say to Miss said, with an uneasy laugh and a blush. Rhoda, "that splendor and rank to which "Curse the whole pack of money-grubbing you are accustomed at the West End, my vulgarians! I fall asleep at their great heavy dear Miss, at our humble mansion in Rusdinners. I feel ashamed in my father's sell-square. My daughters are plain, disingreat stupid parties. I've been accustomed terested girls, but their hearts are in the to live with gentlemen, and men of the right place, and they've conceived an attachworld and fashion, Emmy, not with a parcel ment for you which does them honor-I of turtle-fed tradesmen. Dear, little woman, say, which does them honor. I'm a plain, you are the only person of our set who ever simple, humble British merchant-an honlooked, or thought, or spoke like a lady: and est one, as my respected friends Hulker & you do it because you're an angel, and can't Bullock will vouch, who were the correhelp it. Don't remonstrate. You are the spondents of your late lamented father. only lady. Did'nt Miss Crawley remark it, You'll find us a united, simple, happy, and, who has lived in the best company in Eu- I think I may say, respected family-a plain rope? And as for Crawley, of the Life table, a plain people, but a warm welcome, Guards, hang it, he's a fine fellow; and my dear Miss Rhoda—Rhoda, let me say, I like him for marrying the girl he had for my heart warms to you, it does really. chosen." I'm a frank man, and I like you. A glass of champagne! Hicks, champagne to Miss Swartz."

Amelia admired Mr. Crawley very much, too, for this; and trusted Rebecca would be happy with him, and hoped (with a laugh) There is little doubt that old Osborne beJos would be consoled. And so the pair lieved all he said, and that the girls were went on prattling, as in quite early days. quite earnest in their protestations of affecAmelia's confidence being perfectly restored tion for Miss Swartz. People in Vanity to her, though she expressed a great deal of Fair fasten on to rich folks quite naturally. pretty jealousy about Miss Swartz, and pro- If the simplest people are disposed to look fessed to be dreadfully frightened-like a not a little kindly on great prosperity (for I hypocrite as she was-lest George should defy any member of the British public to say forget her for the heiress and her money that the notion of wealth has not something and her estates in St. Kitts. But the fact awful and pleasing to him; and you, if you is, she was a great deal too happy to have are told that the man next you at dinner has fears, or doubts, or misgivings of any sort: got half a million, not to look at him with a and having George at her side again, was certain interest); if the simple look benevonot afraid of any heiress or beauty, or, in- lently on money, how much more do your deed, of any sort of danger. old worldlings regard it! Their affections rush out to meet and welcome money, Their kind sentiments awaken spontaneously toward the interesting possessors of it. I know some respectable people who don't consider themselves at liberty to indulge in friendship for any individual who has not a certain competency, or place in society. They give aloose to their feelings on proper occasions. And the proof is, that the major part of the Osborne family, who had not, in fifteen years, been able to get up a hearty regard for Amelia Sedley, became as fond of Miss Swartz, in the course of a single evening, as the most romantic advocate of friendship at first-sight could desire.

When Captain Dobbin came back in the afternoon to these people-which he did with a great deal of sympathy for them-it did his heart good to see how Amelia had grown young again-how she laughed, and chirped, and sang familiar old songs at the piano, which were only interrupted by the bell from without proclaiming Mr. Sedley's return from the city, before whom George received a signal to retreat.

Beyond the first smile of recognition-and even that was an hypocrisy, for she thought his arrival rather provoking-Miss Sedley did not once notice Dobbin during his visit. But he was content, so that he saw her happy; and thankful to have been the means of making her so.

What a match for George she'd be (the sister and Miss Wirt agreed), and how much

better than that insignificant little Amelia ! | butler to draw a cork, or his clerk to write a Such a dashing young fellow as he is, with letter. his good looks, rank, and accomplishments, would be the very husband for her. Visions of balls in Portland Place, presentations at court, and introductions to half the peerage, filled the minds of the young ladies; who talked of nothing but George and his grand acquaintances to their beloved new friend.

This imperative hint disturbed George a good deal. He was in the very first enthusiasm and delight of his second courtship of Amelia, which was inexpressibly sweet to him. The contrast of her manners and appearance with those of the heiress, made the idea of a union with the latter appear doubly ludicrous and odious. Carriages and opera-boxes, thought he; fancy being seen in them by the side of such a mahogany charmer as that! Add to all, that the junior Osborne was quite as obstinate as the senior: when he wanted a thing, quite as firm in his resolution to get it; and quite as violent when angered, as his father in his most stern moments.

On the first day when his father formally gave him the hint that he was to place his affections at Miss Swartz's feet, George temporized with the old gentleman. "You should have thought of the matter sooner, sir," he said. "It can't be done now, when we're expecting every day to go on foreign service. Wait till my return, if I do return;" and then he represented, that the time when the regiment was daily expecting to quit England, was exceedingly illchosen: that the few days a week during which they were still to remain at home, must be devoted to business and not to lovemaking: time enough for that when he came home with his majority; "for, I promise you," said he, with a satisfied air, “that one way or other you shall read the name of George Osborne in the Gazette."

Old Osborne thought she would be a great match, too, for his son. He should leave the army; he should go into parliament; he should cut a figure in the fashion and in the state. His blood boiled with honest British exultation, as he saw the name of Osborne ennobled in the person of his son, and thought | that he might be the progenitor of a glorious line of baronets. He worked in the city and on 'Change, until he knew every thing relating to the fortune of the heiress, how her money was placed, and where her estates lay. Young Fred. Bullock, one of his chief informants, would have liked to make a bid for her himself (it was so the young banker expressed it), only he was booked to Maria Osborne. But not being able to secure her as a wife, the disinterested Fred. quite approved of her as a sister-in-law. "Let George cut in directly and win her," was his advice. "Strike while the iron's hot, you know-while she's fresh to the town; in a few weeks some d- fellow from the West End will come in with a title and a rotten rent-roll and cut all us city men out, as Lord Fitzrufus did last year with Miss Grogram, who was actually engaged to Podder, of Podder & Brown's. The sooner it is done the better, Mr. Osborne; them's my senti- The father's reply to this was founded ments," the wag said; though, when Os-upon the information which he had got in borne had left the bank parlor, Mr. Bullock the city that the West End chaps would remembered Amelia, and what a pretty girl infallibly catch hold of the heiress if any she was, and how attached to George Ös- delay took place: that if he didn't marry borne; and he gave up at least ten seconds Miss S., he might at least have an engageof his valuable time to regretting the mis- ment in writing, to come into effect when fortune which had befallen that unlucky he returned to England; and that a man young woman. who could get ten thousand a year by staying at home, was a fool to risk his life abroad.

While thus George Osborne's good feelings, and his good friend and genius, Dobbin, were carrying back the truant to Amelia's feet, George's parent and sisters were arranging this splendid match for him, which they never dreamed he would resist.

When the elder Osborne gave what he called "a hint," there was no possibility for the most obtuse to mistake his meaning. He called kicking a footman down stairs, a hint to the latter to leave his service. With his usual frankness and delicacy, he told Mrs. Haggistoun that he would give her a check for ten thousand pounds on the day his son was married to her ward; and called that proposal a hint, and considered it a very dexterous piece of diplomacy. He gave George finally such another hint regarding the heiress; and ordered him to marry her out of hand, as he would have ordered his

:

"So that you would have me shown up as a coward, sir, and our name dishonored for the sake of Miss Swartz's money," George interposed.

This remark staggered the old gentleman; but as he had to reply to it, and as his mind was nevertheless made up, he said, "You will dine here to-morrow, sir, and every day Miss Swartz comes, you will be here to pay your respects to her. If you want for money, call upon Mr. Chopper." Thus a new obstacle was in George's way, to interfere with his plans regarding Amelia; and about which he and Dobbin had more than one confidential consultation. His friend's opinion respecting the line of conduct which he ought to pursue, we know already. And as for Osborne, when he was once bent on a

thing, a fresh obstacle or two only rendered | mor). He had then been to pass three him the more resolute.

hours with Amelia, his dear little Amelia, at Fulham; and he came home to find his sisters spread in starched muslin in the drawing-room, the dowagers cackling in the back-ground, and honest Swartz in her favorite amber-colored satin, with turquoisebracelets, countless rings, flowers, feathers, and all sorts of tags and gimcracks, about as elegantly decorated as a she chimney-sweep on May day.

The girls, after vain attempts to engage him in conversation, talked about fashions and the last drawing-room until he was perfectly sick of their chatter. He contrasted their behavior with little Emmy's-their shrill cracked voices with her tender ringing tones; their attitudes and their elbows and their starch, with her humble, soft movements and modest graces. Poor Swartz was seated in a place where Emmy had been accustomed to sit. Her bejeweled hands lay sprawling in her amber satin lap. Her tags and ear-rings twinkled, and her big eyes rolled about. She was doing nothing with perfect contentment, and thinking herself charming. Any thing so becoming as the satin the sisters had never seen.

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The dark object of the conspiracy into which the chiefs of the Osborne family had entered, was quite ignorant of all their plans regarding her (which, strange to say, her friend and chaperon did not divulge), and, taking all the young ladies' flattery for genuine sentiment, and being, as we have before had occasion to show, of a very warm and impetuous nature, responded to their affection with quite a tropical ardor. And if the truth may be told, I dare say that she too had some selfish attraction in the Russellsquare house; and in a word, thought George Osborne a very nice young man. His whiskers had made an impression upon her, on the very first night she beheld them at the ball at Messrs. Hulkers; and, as we know, she was not the first woman who had been charmed by them. George had an air at once swaggering and melancholy, languid and fierce. He looked like a man who had passions, secrets, and private harrowing griefs and adventures. His voice was rich and deep. He would say it was a warm evening, or ask his partner to take an ice, with a tone as sad and confidential as if he Damme," George said, to a confidentia were breaking her mother's death to her, friend, "she looked like a China doll, which or preluding a declaration of love. He has nothing to do all day but to grin and wag trampled over all the young bucks of his its head. By Jove, Will., it was all I could father's circle, and was the hero among those do to prevent myself from throwing the sofa third-rate men. Some few sneered at him cushion at her." He restrained that exhiand hated him. Some, like Dobbin, fanat-bition of sentiment, however. ically admired him. And his whiskers had begun to do their work, and to curl themselves round the affections of Miss Swartz. Whenever there was a chance of meeting him in Russell-square, that simple and good-natured young woman was quite in a flurry to see her dear Miss Osbornes. She went to great expenses in new gowns, and bracelets, and bonnets, and in prodigious feathers. She adorned her person with her utmost skill to please the conqueror, and exhibited all her simple accomplishments to win his favor. The girls would ask her, with the greatest gravity, for a little music, and she would sing her three songs and play her two little pieces as often as ever they asked, and with an always increasing "O, Fleuve du Tage," Miss Maria cried; pleasure to herself. During these delecta-"we have the song," and went to fetch the ble entertainments, Miss Wirt and the chaperon sate by, and conned over the peerage, and talked about the nobility.

The day after George had his hint from his father, and a short time before the hour of dinner, he was lolling upon a sofa in the drawing-room in a very becoming and perfectly natural attitude of melancholy. He had been, at his father's request, to Mr. Chopper in the city (the old gentleman, though he gave great sums to his son, would never specify any fixed allowance for him, and rewarded him only as he was in hu

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The sisters began to play the Battle of Prague. "Stop that d- thing," George howled out in a fury from the sofa. "It makes me mad. You play us something, Miss Swartz, do. Sing something, any thing

but the Battle of Prague."

"Shall I sing Blue Eyed Mary, or the air from the Cabinet?" Miss Swartz asked. "That sweet thing from the Cabinet," the sisters said.

"We've had that," replied the misanthrope on the sofa.

"I can sing Fluvy du Tajy," Swartz said, in a meek voice, "if I had the words." It was the last of the worthy young woman's collection.

book in which it was.

Now it happened that this song, then in the height of the fashion, had been given to the young ladies by a young friend of theirs, whose name was on the title, and Miss Swartz, having concluded the ditty with George's applause (for he remembered that it was a favorite of Amelia's), was hoping for an encore perhaps, and fiddling with the leaves of the music, when her eye fell upon the title, and she saw "Amelia Sedley" written in the corner.

"Lor!" cried Miss Swartz, spinning swift