Page:Paul Clifford Vol 3.djvu/95

Rh a slight mixture of the comic. He paid his compliments, and in paying them, declared that he must leave it to his friend Sir William to explain all the danger he had dared, for the sake of satisfying himself that Miss Brandon was no less lovely than when he had last beheld her.

"Yes, indeed," said Brandon, with a scarcely perceptible sneer, "Lord Mauleverer has literally endured the moving accidents of flood and field—for he was nearly exterminated by a highwayman, and all but drowned in a ditch!"

"Commend me to a friend for setting one off to the best advantage," said Mauleverer gaily: "instead of attracting your sympathy, you see, Brandon would expose me to your ridicule. Judge for yourself whether I deserve it;"—and Mauleverer proceeded to give, with all the animation which belonged to his character, the particulars of that adventure with which the reader is so well acquainted. He did not, we may be sure, feel any scruple in representing himself and his prowess in the most favourable colours.

The story was scarcely ended when dinner was announced. During that meal, Mauleverer