His Grace — page 49: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

HIS GRACE. 43 neat little speech, she was so good as to take an oppor- tunity of morally patting me on the head. ‘His Grace,” said she (it was one of her provoking habits to speak always of her son in that absurd way), “has a great esteem for you, Mr. Martyn, and I do feel that we are much indebted to you for all the trouble that you have taken. It is such an immense blessing in a large establishment like this to have a gentleman to whom one can give instructions, and who will see that they are properly carried out. His Grace, as you know, is by no means as rich as he ought to be; still, he is very desirous of entertaining his visitors in a style befitting his rank, and I am sure you will un- derstand how vexed he would be if his cousin, who, I believe, is going to have a large ROUSE Leary next week, were to outdo him in any way.” I certainly did not think that it would be worth his Grace’s while to outdo in the matter of splendor a man who was notoriously far more wealthy than he; but I only bowed and held my peace. What disquieted me more than Lady Charles’s ambition was a remark which fell from Hurstbourne himself, while we were sitting in the smoking-room after she had gone to bed. “T’yve no quarrel with that fellow Paul,” said he, “and I’m not going to quarrel with him so long as he chooses to keep friends ; but I don’t mean him to ride: rough-shod over me either, and if he tries that on, I expect there will be a fight.”’ Now, Hurstbourne was a combative little man, and, considering what the respective situations of the rivals were, it seemed not unlikely that his combativeness might assert itself after a very foolish fashion, cS (E(0) Gomicboo