which were, indeed, rather round.

He had an admirable appetite for pleasure; a man-about-town's life
suited him. He went his genial, unreflecting, costly way in Vienna,
Paris, London. He loved exclusively those towns, and boasted that he
was as much at home in one as in another. He combined exuberant vitality
with fastidiousness of palate, and devoted both to the acquisition of a
special taste in women, weeds, and wines; above all he was blessed with
a remarkable digestion. He was thirty when he met Mrs. Devorell; and she
married him because he was so very different from anybody she had ever
seen. People more dissimilar were never mated. To Paul--accustomed to
stage doors--freshness, serene tranquillity, and obvious purity were the
baits; he had run through more than half his fortune, too, and the fact
that she had money was possibly not overlooked. Be that as it may, he
was fond of her; his heart was soft, he developed a domestic side.

Greta was born to them after a year of marriage. The instinct of the
"freeman" was, however, not dead in Paul; he became a gambler. He lost
the remainder of his fortune without being greatly disturbed. When
he began to lose his wife's fortune too things naturally became more
difficult. Not too much remained when Nicholas Treffry stepped in,
and caused his sister to settle what was left on her daughters, after
providing a life-interest for herself and Paul. Losing his supplies, the
good man had given up his cards. But the instinct of the "freeman"
was still living in his breast; he took to drink. He was never grossly
drunk, and rarely very sober. His wife sorrowed over this new passion;
her health, already much enfeebled, soon broke down. The doctors sent
her to the Tyrol. She seemed to benefit by this, and settled down at
Botzen. The following year, when Greta was just ten, she died. It was a
shock to Paul. He gave up excessive drinking; became a constant smoker,