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Rh Close by stood a couch, covered with a spotted leopard's skin, and supported by claws of bronze. Charles threw himself upon it; how its luxurious softness mocked its material! The shadowy reveries of the dim future, to which he again yielded himself, were broken by some one speaking at his side: "Perhaps, as you appear so much engaged in contemplation of our collection, you maybe disposed to become an immediate purchaser? I am authorised to treat by private contract." "And who are you?" exclaimed Charles. "The person employed to sell this property; very happy to treat with you, sir." Assuredly there was nothing in the face of the auctioneer to induce confidence, particularly when that confidence related to the feelings. He was a spare, meagre man, who looked as if he saved even in himself; with the light hair and sallow skin which distinguish the Portuguese Jew especially, and the high nose and elevated eyebrow which mark the Jew all over the world:—a man who divided the human race into two classes, buyers and sellers; whose atmosphere was trade, the real of whose life was gain, and the ideal, wealth. Yet to this incarnation of the pence-table did Charles resolve to unfold his cause of loitering. Charles was vain and imaginative; vanity led him to be egotistical, and his imagination threw its grace over the confession, half of which it colours, if it does not create. He therefore stated to the auctioneer his desire of