University of Virginia Library

10. CHAPTER X.

If we have for a long period been silent in relation
to the movements of Edward de Lyle, our apparent
neglect does not arise from any indifference to the
fortunes of so important and imposing a personage.
As he grew up to manhood, his features displayed
a regularity of outline and fitness of proportion
which, at the first glance, conveyed the idea of positive
beauty; but a more careful survey developed a
sinister expression, which the forced smile that he
could command at will was little calculated to remove.
We know not what sensation is produced
in others by the exhibition of a deceptive and hollow-hearted
smile, but to us it never fails to conjure up
associations connected with Judas the betrayer!

A deep view into the arcana of female degradation
had produced its usual demoralizing effect, by causing
in him a distrust of the virtue and purity of the
sex; the character of his mind thus rapidly assimilating
itself to that of the polluted individuals whom
congeniality of disposition and pursuits had classed
among his intimates.

As may be supposed, years had deepened the
lines of his character insensibly, ripening the errors
of boyhood into faults of a less venial description,
and transferring youthful vices to the darker catalogue
of crimes. During the earlier portion of his
dissipated career, his indulgent mother supplied him
with sufficient funds to gratify all his desires; but, as
the sphere of his operations extended, he found no
little difficulty in devising ways and means to liquidate
the demands created by his extravagance.

After various expedients had been resorted to
in the hope of extricating himself from debt and
embarrassment, but which continued to plunge him
still deeper in their meshes, his introduction to the
firm of which his father was the senior partner, at
length afforded him a mercantile standing, which
enabled him to borrow, at an extravagant rate of
interest, sums to cover his immediate necessities.

Unhappily for our hero, this pampered child of a
weak mother's love had continued from boyhood to
cherish against him an antipathy of no common
virulence. From the day when Clifton humbled his
pride and chastised his insolence, he had continued
to devise schemes of revenge, but the even tenour of

Sydney's way had hitherto furnished him with no
opportunity to execute his malicious purpose.

Among the disreputable companions with whom
he consorted, Julius Ellingbourne was conspicuous.
This individual possessed the most bland and insinuating
manners; and as his originally strong mind
had received the polish of education and travel,
he was an interesting and agreeable companion,
and obtained admittance into the society of those
who would have spurned the association had they
known the dishonourable practices by which his
purse was replenished. All that was known of his
history, in the circle in which he moved, was that
he had but a very few years previous arrived in the
city, and that he appeared possessed of ample means
to sustain rank in the fashionable world; but of any
particulars in relation to his previous career all were
equally ignorant. When the subject was alluded
to, he would sportively call himself a citizen of the
world, and, with mock gravity, argue how totally unimportant
it was, whether he was dropped from the
clouds in a thunder shower, or some more quiet
but no less remarkable freak of nature had caused
his advent into this lower world. From thence
he would gracefully digress to some other topic,
not altogether unconnected with the subject of his
remarks, diverging still as he proceeded, until the
listener found his attention absorbed in matters entirely
foreign to the history of Mr. Ellingbourne. A
sternness of demeanour, and a significant allusion
to the usual method of settling disputes among gentlemen,

served to silence the curiosity of those who
pressed such inquiries beyond the rules of courtesy;
and, indeed, whatever were his moral defects, cowardice
formed no part of his character. The exercise
of his talent for keen satire was the sole drawback
to his friendly reception at every fireside; for
while a large portion of the fashionable world were
delighted at his graphic delineation of the foibles or
peculiarities of their neighbours, their satisfaction
was much less apparent when they learned that
their own portraits had been limned with equal fidelity
at the opposite side of the town.

Another associate who was in the confidence of
De Lyle was Piercie Matthison, an original in his
way, whose attention to the main chance did not
prevent the pursuit of a favourite theory, which he
introduced on all occasions, and frequently to the
no little annoyance of the coterie of which he was
a member. In his opinion, every phenomenon in
mind, morals, or ethics was immediately connected
with the operations of the stomach; and if the
brilliant achievements of the most renowned hero of
the age were recounted and appropriately eulogized,
Matthison would coolly deduce from them unquestionable
evidence of the healthy state of the general's
digestive organs; “but,” said he, placing his
finger by the side of his prominent nasal organ,
“where would his army have been if he had been
severely afflicted with the dyspepsy?” As it was
impossible to furnish a satisfactory answer to so profound
a query, the propounder triumphed by silencing
his antagonists.

Baillie Shafton, to whom slight allusion has heretofore
been made, still retained a portion of his early
peculiarities, on which were grafted many novel
eccentricities. With sufficient talent to secure for
himself, without effort, a respectable rank among the
commonplace multitude by whom he was surrounded,
he had the egregious folly to affect the man of
wit; and although it may not be denied that he
occasionally made a decided hit, still the general
character of his witticisms was little calculated to
increase his reputation among the clever persons of
the day. Among the many monstrosities of which
he was hourly delivered, the rece of puns constituted
the most numerous progeny; and although they
were generally of the poorest description, yet the
affections of Shafton, like those of other fond parents,
gathered intensity in proportion to the helplessness
of his mental offspring. The shrewd observer of
human character, who was long honoured with
Shafton's society, could not fail to recognise in the
pun of to-day a marked resemblance to the pun of
the preceding day or week; but such coincidences
have not unfrequently occurred in the productions of
some of the renowned authors of the present time,
and cannot, therefore, be safely sneered at. His
vices, like his virtues, were rather of a negative
character, and he could abandon them with the same
facility with which he would cut an old friend
whenever more attractive metal was discovered.
By a certain description of fashionable ladies he
was voted irresistible; for his stock of ideas, like

the wares of a retail merchant, were readily accessible,
and he certainly was no niggard in their display.

If the reader desires a more intimate knowledge
of the person of this interesting exclusive, let him
or her but seek Broadway on any fine day in spring
or autumn, when our favourite will be met on the
west side of that attractive thoroughfare, dressed
in the quintessence of the mode, equipped with an
eyeglass in one hand and a gold-tipped ebony
cane in the other; his toes pointed outward; his
gray eye, with the aid of the aforesaid glass, peering
into the face of every lady he meets; and if a voice
should be heard, in tones as soft as those of Caradori
Allan, gently murmuring, “Oh! Miss Rose,
you look divinely to-day. Pray, how is your angelic
sister? Would I could pluck one of those
fragrant roses from the parent stem. I'd be in a
paradise of sweets. I would, on my honour.” And
if this Rosebud should answer, “Oh! fy, how can
you be so full of your compliments?” be then satisfied,
dear reader, that thou art acquainted with
the outward man of Baillie Shafton.

As the individuals to whom we here introduce
our readers will frequently cross their path during
the future progress of this history, we deem it
proper to afford a slight description of their most
striking peculiarities.