that the new-comer’s manner to his hostess and Mrs. Basil was not what it should have been.  It was not absolutely rude, but it was studiously careless of their presence.  He no longer stared at them as at first, but, on the contrary, seemed to ignore the fact of their existence—­never addressed them; and if either spoke to him, replied as briefly as possible, and then turned at once to Solomon or his son.  Mrs. Basil concluded that he was a vulgar fellow, who, having penetration enough to discover that the males had the upper hand in the establishment, did not give himself the trouble to conciliate the less important members of it; but Harry, always timid and suspicious, was alarmed at him; his air had, in her eyes, something hostile in it as well as contemptuous.  She could not understand, and therefore mistrusted, the influence he had evidently obtained over her husband, and which already had superseded that of Mrs. Basil.

That Solomon should no longer take pains to make himself agreeable to the latter, now that he had obtained from her his object, was, to any one who knew his character, explicable enough; but why should this stranger have taken her place as his counselor and friend?  The idea of some personal advantage was, of course, at the bottom of it; but it was clear, not only to sage Mrs. Basil, but even to Harry—­since even a moderately skillful looker-on sees more of the game than the best player—­that in any contest of wits Solomon would have small chance with his new friend.  The opinion of Mrs. Basil was, that some new speculation, in some manner connected with the Crompton sale, had been entered into by the two men, and that Mr. Balfour would in the end secure the oyster, while Mr. Coe was left with the shell.  But Harry had darker forebodings still; she was instinctively confident that there was enmity at work in the new-comer, as well as the readiness common to all speculators to overreach a friend.  There was a look in his pallid face, when it glanced, as he thought unheeded, on either Charles or Solomon, which, to her mind, boded ill.  If it did so, it was certainly unsuspected by those on whom it fell.  Mr. Coe had apparently never found a companion so agreeable to him; and, curiously enough, this idea seemed to be shared by Charles.  According to his own account, Mr. Balfour had been abroad in Western America for many years, and had there retrieved a fortune which, originally inherited, had been speedily dissipated in the pleasures of the town.  His long absence from such scenes had by no means dulled his taste for them, and his conversation ran on little else.  He had a light rattling way with him—­that, to Harry’s view, resembled youthful spirit no more than galvanism in a corpse resembles life, and which was certainly not in harmony with his age and appearance—­and very graphic powers of description; he expressed himself curious about the changes in public amusements since he left town, near twenty years ago, and seriously placed himself under Charles’s guidance on the expeditions of pleasure for which the latter was always ready.  To this, strangely enough, Solomon made no objection, notwithstanding that his own purse-strings had to be drawn pretty wide to supply these extravagances.  His new friend had only to suggest that he should give the lad a five-pound note to enjoy himself with, and the thing was done at once.