Page:Paul Clifford Vol 2.djvu/54

46 low birth, set on high places, in other men, he was utterly void of pride for his own family.—"Fairly retorted! but I never meant any thing else but a laugh at your brother's housekeeping; a joke, surely, permitted to a man whose own fastidiousness on these matters is so standing a jest. But, by heavens, Brandon, to turn from these subjects, your niece is the prettiest girl I have seen for twenty years; and if she would forget my being the descendant of John Mauleverer, the noted goldsmith of London, she may be Lady Mauleverer as soon as she pleases."

"Nay, now, let us be serious, and talk of the judgeship," said Brandon, affecting to treat the proposal as a joke.

"By the soul of Sir Charles de Brandon, I am serious!" cried the Earl; "and as a proof of it, I hope you will let me pay my respects to your niece to-day—not with my offer in my hand, yet—for it must be a love-match on both sides," and the Earl, glancing towards an opposite glass, which reflected his attenuated but comely features, beneath his velvet night-cap, trimmed with mechlin, laughed half-triumphantly as he spoke.