Few men living could have done less for the world
than Dolly Longstaff,--and yet he had a position of his own. Now he
had taken into his head to fall in love with Miss Boncassen. This
was an accident which had probably never happened to him before,
and which had disturbed him much. He had known Miss Boncassen a
week or two before Lord Silverbridge had seen her, having by some
chance dined out and sat next to her. From that moment he had
become changed, and had gone hither and thither in pursuit of the
American beauty. His passion having become suspected by his
companions had excited their ridicule. Nevertheless he had
persevered;--and now he was absolutely dancing with the lady out in
the open air. 'If this goes on, your friends will have to look
after you and put you somewhere,' Mr Lupton had said to him in one
of the intervals of the dance. Dolly had turned round and scowled,
and suggested that if Mr Lupton would mind his own affairs it
would be as well for the world at large.
At the present crisis Dolly was very much excited. When the dance
was over, as a matter of course, he offered the lady his arm, and
as a matter of course she accepted it.
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