He did not actually fleece them
himself, he had too little worldly wisdom for that; but he was the
decoy of a coterie of Nyms, Pistols, and Bardolphs, who gathered up
the spoil of these and any unwary youth who came to Rockpier in the
wake of an invalid, or to 'see life' at a fashionable watering-
place. Miles thought the old man was probably reduced to a worse
style of company by the very fact of the religious atmosphere of the
place, where he himself found so little to do that he longed for the
opening of the Session; but he was strongly impressed with the
impracticability of a menage for Frank, with the baronet as father-
in-law.
Not so, Sir Harry. He was rather fond of Frank, and had been glad
to be no longer bound to oppose the match, and he had benignantly
made up his mind to the great sacrifice of living in his house in
London, surrounding himself with all his friends, and making the
young couple supply him with pocket-money whenever he had a run of
ill-luck. They would grant it more easily than Camilla, and would
never presume to keep him under regulation as she had done.
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