poor deluded idol passed away into that future with which she had been so rashly familiar, he was faithful to her yet, and kept the “seal” which she had given him—­his passport to the realms of bliss—­as his dearest treasure.  He had scarcely any other “effects” by that time, for, actuated by his too fervent faith, he had been living upon the principle of his fortune; and at five-and-thirty years of age Mrs. Yorke found herself a widow, with a stock of very varied experience indeed, but not much more of worldly wealth than she had had to start with.  It was hard, after half a lifetime, to resume the same semi-relative, semi-dependent position under her uncle’s roof which she had occupied before; but no better offered itself, and she was glad to accept it.  Her natural attractions were still wondrously preserved to her; and, perhaps, on the occasion of her second nuptials (and the fact of her first was carefully concealed), her age excited less astonishment than her youth had done in the former instance.

Yet now at fifty-three, this woman, as remarkable for her talents as for her beauty, and who, if but for a brief period, had once stood “on fortune’s crowning slope,” found herself with little beyond a bare subsistence, which she received without gratitude from the hands of Carew.  What she derived from her lodging-house defrayed the somewhat lavish expenditure of her son Richard.  She was far, however, from complaining of his extravagances.  She wished him to live like a gentleman, and not to soil his hands with ignoble, pursuits.  She felt a genuine pleasure—­only known to mothers—­in gathering toilsomely together what she knew he would lightly spend.  She was for the present amply repaid by the reflection that her Dick was as handsome and well-appointed a young fellow as was to be seen in London, with an air and manner that would become a prince.  It was only a question of time, she thought, when the princess should appear, be captivated, and raise him to the sphere for which she had taken care to fit him.  In the mean time, it was only natural that he should enjoy himself after the manner of other youth of great expectations.  She was not averse to his dissipations, for in them indeed lay his best chance of getting acquainted with young men of this class; nor, so far, had she been disappointed.  It would be surprising to many a stately pater-familias to learn how easily acquaintanceship, and even friendship, is contracted with his male offspring, if they be among the pleasure-seekers of the town.  A young man of good address and exterior, with plenty of money in his pocket, does not require introduction.  The club door soon flies open to him, but not that of the home.  Richard was on tolerably intimate terms with Chandos, and other young men of the same class—­but he had never been introduced to their sisters.  It was here that Mrs. Yorke made her mistake:  she thought she understood society because she had studied two exceptional phases of it.  There is nobody more short-sighted than the Bohemian, who imagines he is a citizen of the world; his round of life may have no fence in the shape of convention, yet it is often, very limited, and it is outside every other.