Page:Romance & Reality 1.pdf/78

72 Asiatic it would have been difficult from her dress to decide—curtsied and complimented, till she seemed equally weary of her dignity, draperies, and guests. To Emily the scene was new—and novelty is the best half of pleasure. Mr. Boyne Sillery was too attentive not to be agreeable. Attention is always pleasant in an acquaintance till we tire of them. Moreover, he was very entertaining, talked much of every body, and well of none; and ill nature is to conversation what oil is to the lamp—the only thing that keeps it alive. Besides, there were two or three whispers, whose sweetness was good, at least in the way of contrast. Mr. Boyne Sillery was seventh, eighth, or ninth, among a score of divers-sized children—in a large family, like a long sum, it is difficult to remember the exact number. His father was the possessor of some half-dozen ancestors, a manor, and landed property worth about twelve hundred a-year. He married the daughter of a neighbour whose purse and pedigree were on a par with his own—the heiress of two maiden aunts, one of whom left her a set of garnets, three lockets, and the miniature of an officer; the other a book of receipts, and