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 ," said the Baroness, her eyes brightening at the idea.

"No, they had been gone half an hour. It is always so, every pleasure comes exactly half an hour too late—Life! Life!"

"They will not think it too late, their fine friends are everything now," said the lady spitefully. "Baron!" she called to her husband, as he walked by in earnest conversation with a gentleman who looked like the Stock Exchange taking a little recreation. "Our friend's father-in-law is come, I was reproaching him for not bringing him here."

"I should have been delighted to see him. He is, I hear, an excellent man, has prayers for the sailors every morning, and keeps up a very strict tone of morals on board his ships. And virtue has its reward even in this life—I am told he has made a most successful voyage. Willis, you must introduce him to me. He can give us useful information," he added, turning to his friend, "relative to our Chinese railway business."

"Oh, no business here, if you please!" said