Page:Paul Clifford Vol 3.djvu/201

Rh jests and the libertine maxims which flowed from the thin lips of that cold and severe Welford, whose countenance gave the lie to mirth. Of women in general they spoke with that lively contempt which is the customary tone with men of the world,—only in Welford it assumed a bitterer, a deeper, and a more philosophical cast than it did in his more animated yet less energetic guest.

The nobleman seemed charmed with his friend; the conversation was just to his taste; and when Welford had supported him up to bed, he shook that person cordially by the hand, and hoped he should soon see him in very different circumstances. When the Peer's door was closed on Welford, he stood motionless for some moments; he then, with a soft step, ascended to his own chamber. His wife slept soundly; beside the bed was his infant's cradle. As his eyes fell on the latter, the rigid irony, now habitual to his features, relaxed, he bent over the cradle long, and in deep silence. The mother's face, blended with the sire's, was stamped on the sleeping and cherub countenance before him; and as at length,