St. George seized the nearest dog by the collar, cuffed him into obedience as an example to the others, ordered the four to the hearth rug, ran his eye along the mantel to see what letters had arrived in his absence, and disappeared into his bedroom.  From thence he emerged half an hour later attired in the costume of the day—­a jaunty brown velveteen jacket, loose red scarf, speckled white waistcoat—­single-breasted and of his own pattern and cut—­dove-gray trousers, and white gaiters.  No town clothes for St. George as long as his measure was in London and his friends were good enough to bring him a trunk full every year or two.  “Well-cut garments may not make a gentleman,” he would often say to the youngsters about him, “but slip-shod clothes can spoil one.”

He had drawn up to the table now, Todd in white jacket hovering about him, bringing relays of waffles, hot coffee, and more particularly the first of a series of great scallop-shells filled with oysters which he had placed on the well-brushed hearth to keep hot while his master was dressing.

Fifty he was by the almanac, and by the old family Bible as well, and yet he did not look it.  Six feet and an inch; straight, ruddy-checked, broad-shouldered, well-rounded, but with his waist measure still under control; slightly gray at the temples, with clean-shaven face, laughing eyes, white teeth, and finely moulded nose, brow, and chin, he was everything his friends claimed—­the perfect embodiment of all that was best in his class and station, and of all that his blood had bequeathed him.

And fine old fellows they were if we can believe the historians of the seventeenth century:  “Wearing the falchion and the rapier, the cloth coat lined with plush and embroidered belt, the gold hat-band and the feathers, silk stockings and garters, besides signet rings and other jewels; wainscoting the walls of their principal rooms in black oak and loading their sideboards with a deal of rich and massive silver plate upon which was carved the arms of their ancestors;—­drinking, too, strong punch and sack from ’silver sack-cups’—­(sack being their favorite)—­and feasting upon oysters and the most delicious of all the ducks of the world.”

And in none of their other distinguishing qualities was their descendant lacking.  In the very lift of his head and brace of his shoulders; in the grace and ease with which be crossed the room, one could see at a glance something of the dash and often the repose of the cavalier from whom he had sprung.  And the sympathy, kindness, and courtesy of the man that showed in every glance of his eye and every movement of his body—­despite his occasional explosive temper—­a sympathy that drifted in to an ungovernable impulse to divide everything he owned into two parts, and his own half into two once more if the other fellow needed it; a kindness that made every man his friend, and a courtesy which, even in a time when men lifted their hats to men, as well as to women, had gained for him, the town over, the soubriquet of “Gentleman George”; while to every young girl and youth under twenty he was just “dear Uncle George”—­the one man in all Kennedy Square who held their secrets.