Conducted to the ladies, at the Ship Inn, Dobbin assumed a jovial andrattling manner, which proved that this young officer was becoming amore consummate hypocrite every day of his life. He was trying to hidehis own private feelings, first upon seeing Mrs. George Osborne in hernew condition, and secondly to mask the apprehensions he entertained asto the effect which the dismal news brought down by him would certainlyhave upon her.

"It is my opinion, George," he said, "that the French Emperor will beupon us, horse and foot, before three weeks are over, and will give theDuke such a dance as shall make the Peninsula appear mere child's play.But you need not say that to Mrs. Osborne, you know. There mayn't beany fighting on our side after all, and our business in Belgium mayturn out to be a mere military occupation. Many persons think so; andBrussels is full of fine people and ladies of fashion." So it wasagreed to represent the duty of the British army in Belgium in thisharmless light to Amelia.

This plot being arranged, the hypocritical Dobbin saluted Mrs. GeorgeOsborne quite gaily, tried to pay her one or two compliments relativeto her new position as a bride (which compliments, it must beconfessed, were exceedingly clumsy and hung fire woefully), and thenfell to talking about Brighton, and the sea-air, and the gaieties ofthe place, and the beauties of the road and the merits of the Lightningcoach and horses--all in a manner quite incomprehensible to Amelia, andvery amusing to Rebecca, who was watching the Captain, as indeed shewatched every one near whom she came.

Little Amelia, it must be owned, had rather a mean opinion of herhusband's friend, Captain Dobbin. He lisped--he was very plain andhomely-looking: and exceedingly awkward and ungainly. She liked himfor his attachment to her husband (to be sure there was very littlemerit in that), and she thought George was most generous and kind inextending his friendship to his brother officer. George had mimickedDobbin's lisp and queer manners many times to her, though to do himjustice, he always spoke most highly of his friend's good qualities. Inher little day of triumph, and not knowing him intimately as yet, shemade light of honest William--and he knew her opinions of him quitewell, and acquiesced in them very humbly. A time came when she knewhim better, and changed her notions regarding him; but that was distantas yet.

As for Rebecca, Captain Dobbin had not been two hours in the ladies'company before she understood his secret perfectly. She did not likehim, and feared him privately; nor was he very much prepossessed in herfavour. He was so honest, that her arts and cajoleries did not affecthim, and he shrank from her with instinctive repulsion. And, as she wasby no means so far superior to her sex as to be above jealousy, shedisliked him the more for his adoration of Amelia. Nevertheless, shewas very respectful and cordial in her manner towards him. A friend tothe Osbornes! a friend to her dearest benefactors! She vowed sheshould always love him sincerely: she remembered him quite well on theVauxhall night, as she told Amelia archly, and she made a little fun ofhim when the two ladies went to dress for dinner. Rawdon Crawley paidscarcely any attention to Dobbin, looking upon him as a good-naturednincompoop and under-bred City man. Jos patronised him with muchdignity.

When George and Dobbin were alone in the latter's room, to which Georgehad followed him, Dobbin took from his desk the letter which he hadbeen charged by Mr. Osborne to deliver to his son. "It's not in myfather's handwriting," said George, looking rather alarmed; nor was it:the letter was from Mr. Osborne's lawyer, and to the following effect:

"Bedford Row, May 7, 1815.

"SIR,

"I am commissioned by Mr. Osborne to inform you, that he abides by thedetermination which he before expressed to you, and that in consequenceof the marriage which you have been pleased to contract, he ceases toconsider you henceforth as a member of his family. This determinationis final and irrevocable.

"Although the monies expended upon you in your minority, and the billswhich you have drawn upon him so unsparingly of late years, far exceedin amount the sum to which you are entitled in your own right (beingthe third part of the fortune of your mother, the late Mrs. Osborne andwhich reverted to you at her decease, and to Miss Jane Osborne and MissMaria Frances Osborne); yet I am instructed by Mr. Osborne to say, thathe waives all claim upon your estate, and that the sum of 2,000 pounds,4 per cent. annuities, at the value of the day (being your one-thirdshare of the sum of 6,000 pounds), shall be paid over to yourself oryour agents upon your receipt for the same, by

"Your obedient Servt., "S. HIGGS.

"P.S.--Mr. Osborne desires me to say, once for all, that he declines toreceive any messages, letters, or communications from you on this orany other subject.

"A pretty way you have managed the affair," said George, lookingsavagely at William Dobbin. "Look there, Dobbin," and he flung over tothe latter his parent's letter. "A beggar, by Jove, and all inconsequence of my d--d sentimentality. Why couldn't we have waited? Aball might have done for me in the course of the war, and may still,and how will Emmy be bettered by being left a beggar's widow? It wasall your doing. You were never easy until you had got me married andruined. What the deuce am I to do with two thousand pounds? Such asum won't last two years. I've lost a hundred and forty to Crawley atcards and billiards since I've been down here. A pretty manager of aman's matters YOU are, forsooth."

"There's no denying that the position is a hard one," Dobbin replied,after reading over the letter with a blank countenance; "and as yousay, it is partly of my making. There are some men who wouldn't mindchanging with you," he added, with a bitter smile. "How many captainsin the regiment have two thousand pounds to the fore, think you? Youmust live on your pay till your father relents, and if you die, youleave your wife a hundred a year."

"Do you suppose a man of my habits call live on his pay and a hundred ayear?" George cried out in great anger. "You must be a fool to talkso, Dobbin. How the deuce am I to keep up my position in the worldupon such a pitiful pittance? I can't change my habits. I must havemy comforts. I wasn't brought up on porridge, like MacWhirter, or onpotatoes, like old O'Dowd. Do you expect my wife to take in soldiers'washing, or ride after the regiment in a baggage waggon?"

"Well, well," said Dobbin, still good-naturedly, "we'll get her abetter conveyance. But try and remember that you are only a dethronedprince now, George, my boy; and be quiet whilst the tempest lasts. Itwon't be for long. Let your name be mentioned in the Gazette, and I'llengage the old father relents towards you:"

"Mentioned in the Gazette!" George answered. "And in what part of it?Among the killed and wounded returns, and at the top of the list, verylikely."

"Psha! It will be time enough to cry out when we are hurt," Dobbinsaid. "And if anything happens, you know, George, I have got a little,and I am not a marrying man, and I shall not forget my godson in mywill," he added, with a smile. Whereupon the dispute ended--as manyscores of such conversations between Osborne and his friend hadconcluded previously--by the former declaring there was no possibilityof being angry with Dobbin long, and forgiving him very generouslyafter abusing him without cause.

"I say, Becky," cried Rawdon Crawley out of his dressing-room, to hislady, who was attiring herself for dinner in her own chamber.

"What?" said Becky's shrill voice. She was looking over her shoulderin the glass. She had put on the neatest and freshest white frockimaginable, and with bare shoulders and a little necklace, and a lightblue sash, she looked the image of youthful innocence and girlishhappiness.

"I say, what'll Mrs. O. do, when O. goes out with the regiment?"Crawley said coming into the room, performing a duet on his head withtwo huge hair-brushes, and looking out from under his hair withadmiration on his pretty little wife.

"I suppose she'll cry her eyes out," Becky answered. "She has beenwhimpering half a dozen times, at the very notion of it, already to me."

"YOU don't care, I suppose?" Rawdon said, half angry at his wife's wantof feeling.

"You wretch! don't you know that I intend to go with you," Beckyreplied. "Besides, you're different. You go as General Tufto'saide-de-camp. We don't belong to the line," Mrs. Crawley said,throwing up her head with an air that so enchanted her husband that hestooped down and kissed it.

"Rawdon dear--don't you think--you'd better get that--money from Cupid,before he goes?" Becky continued, fixing on a killing bow. She calledGeorge Osborne, Cupid. She had flattered him about his good looks ascore of times already. She watched over him kindly at ecarte of anight when he would drop in to Rawdon's quarters for a half-hour beforebed-time.

She had often called him a horrid dissipated wretch, and threatened totell Emmy of his wicked ways and naughty extravagant habits. Shebrought his cigar and lighted it for him; she knew the effect of thatmanoeuvre, having practised it in former days upon Rawdon Crawley. Hethought her gay, brisk, arch, distinguee, delightful. In their littledrives and dinners, Becky, of course, quite outshone poor Emmy, whoremained very mute and timid while Mrs. Crawley and her husband rattledaway together, and Captain Crawley (and Jos after he joined the youngmarried people) gobbled in silence.

Emmy's mind somehow misgave her about her friend. Rebecca's wit,spirits, and accomplishments troubled her with a rueful disquiet. Theywere only a week married, and here was George already suffering ennui,and eager for others' society! She trembled for the future. How shallI be a companion for him, she thought--so clever and so brilliant, andI such a humble foolish creature? How noble it was of him to marryme--to give up everything and stoop down to me! I ought to haverefused him, only I had not the heart. I ought to have stopped at homeand taken care of poor Papa. And her neglect of her parents (andindeed there was some foundation for this charge which the poor child'suneasy conscience brought against her) was now remembered for the firsttime, and caused her to blush with humiliation. Oh! thought she, Ihave been very wicked and selfish--selfish in forgetting them in theirsorrows--selfish in forcing George to marry me. I know I'm not worthyof him--I know he would have been happy without me--and yet--I tried, Itried to give him up.

It is hard when, before seven days of marriage are over, such thoughtsand confessions as these force themselves on a little bride's mind.But so it was, and the night before Dobbin came to join these youngpeople--on a fine brilliant moonlight night of May--so warm and balmythat the windows were flung open to the balcony, from which George andMrs. Crawley were gazing upon the calm ocean spread shining beforethem, while Rawdon and Jos were engaged at backgammon within--Ameliacouched in a great chair quite neglected, and watching both theseparties, felt a despair and remorse such as were bitter companions forthat tender lonely soul. Scarce a week was past, and it was come tothis! The future, had she regarded it, offered a dismal prospect; butEmmy was too shy, so to speak, to look to that, and embark alone onthat wide sea, and unfit to navigate it without a guide and protector.I know Miss Smith has a mean opinion of her. But how many, my dearMadam, are endowed with your prodigious strength of mind?

"Gad, what a fine night, and how bright the moon is!" George said, witha puff of his cigar, which went soaring up skywards.

"How delicious they smell in the open air! I adore them. Who'd thinkthe moon was two hundred and thirty-six thousand eight hundred andforty-seven miles off?" Becky added, gazing at that orb with a smile."Isn't it clever of me to remember that? Pooh! we learned it all atMiss Pinkerton's! How calm the sea is, and how clear everything. Ideclare I can almost see the coast of France!" and her bright greeneyes streamed out, and shot into the night as if they could see throughit.

"Do you know what I intend to do one morning?" she said; "I find I canswim beautifully, and some day, when my Aunt Crawley's companion--oldBriggs, you know--you remember her--that hook-nosed woman, with thelong wisps of hair--when Briggs goes out to bathe, I intend to diveunder her awning, and insist on a reconciliation in the water. Isn'tthat a stratagem?"

George burst out laughing at the idea of this aquatic meeting. "What'sthe row there, you two?" Rawdon shouted out, rattling the box. Ameliawas making a fool of herself in an absurd hysterical manner, andretired to her own room to whimper in private.

Our history is destined in this chapter to go backwards and forwards ina very irresolute manner seemingly, and having conducted our story toto-morrow presently, we shall immediately again have occasion to stepback to yesterday, so that the whole of the tale may get a hearing. Asyou behold at her Majesty's drawing-room, the ambassadors' and highdignitaries' carriages whisk off from a private door, while CaptainJones's ladies are waiting for their fly: as you see in the Secretaryof the Treasury's antechamber, a half-dozen of petitioners waitingpatiently for their audience, and called out one by one, when suddenlyan Irish member or some eminent personage enters the apartment, andinstantly walks into Mr. Under-Secretary over the heads of all thepeople present: so in the conduct of a tale, the romancer is obliged toexercise this most partial sort of justice. Although all the littleincidents must be heard, yet they must be put off when the great eventsmake their appearance; and surely such a circumstance as that whichbrought Dobbin to Brighton, viz., the ordering out of the Guards andthe line to Belgium, and the mustering of the allied armies in thatcountry under the command of his Grace the Duke of Wellington--such adignified circumstance as that, I say, was entitled to the pas over allminor occurrences whereof this history is composed mainly, and hence alittle trifling disarrangement and disorder was excusable and becoming.We have only now advanced in time so far beyond