All purchased one, and the Duke among the rest. He was
well reported, and could now sympathise with, instead of smile at, the
anxiety of Lord Darrell.
'The young Duke of St. James seems to have distinguished himself very
much,' said the first lawyer.
'So I observe,' said the second one. 'The leading article calls our
attention to his speech as the most brilliant delivered.'
'I am surprised,' said the third. 'I thought he was quite a different
sort of person.'
'By no means,' said the first: 'I have always had a high opinion of him.
I am not one of those who think the worse of a young man because he is a
little wild.'
'Nor I,' said the second. 'Young blood, you know, is young blood.'
'A very intimate friend of mine, who knows the Duke of St. James well,
once told me,' rejoined the first, 'that I was quite mistaken about him;
that he was a person of no common talents; well read, quite a man of the
world, and a good deal of wit, too; and let me tell you that in these
days wit is no common thing.'
'Certainly not,' said the third. 'We have no wit now.'
'And a kind-hearted, generous fellow,' continued the first, 'and _very_
unaffected.
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