slave!'

'Yes, like a slave,' said Louis, gravely. 'I wish to give way like a
son who would try to comfort him for what he has undergone.'

'Now, I should have thought your feeling would have been for your
mother!'

'If my mother could speak to me,' said Louis, with trembling lips, 'she
would surely bid me to try my utmost, as far as in me lies, to bring
peace and happiness to my father. I cannot tell where the errors may
have been, and I will never ask. If she was as like to me as they say,
I could understand some of them! At least, I know that I am doubly
bound to give as little vexation to him as possible, and I trust that
you will not make it harder to me. You lost your father so early, that
you can hardly estimate--'

'The trial?' said James, willing to give what had passed the air of a
joke.

'Exactly so--Good night.'

CHAPTER XIV.

NEW INHABITANTS.

Sometimes a troop of damsels glad--
Sometimes a curly shepherd lad,
Or long-haired page in crimson clad,
Goes by to towered Camelot;
And sometimes, through the mirror blue,
The knights come riding two and two.
She hath no loyal knight and true--
The Lady of Shalott.
TENNYSON.

'Oakstead, Oct. 14th, 1847.

'My Dear Aunt,--I find that Fitzjocelyn is writing to you, but I think
you will wish for a fuller account of him than can be obtained from his
own letters. Indeed, I should be much obliged if you would kindly
exercise your influence to persuade him that he is not in a condition
to be imprudent with impunity. Sir Miles Oakstead was absolutely
shocked to see the alteration in his appearance, as well as in his
spirits; and although both our kind host and hostess are most
solicitous on his account, it happens unfortunately that they are at
this juncture quite alone, so that he is without companions of his own
age. I must not, however, alarm you. The fact is, that circumstances
have occurred which, though he has acted in the most exemplary manner,
have harassed and distressed him a good deal, and his health suffers
from the difficulty of taking sufficient exercise. James will triumph
when he hears that I regret having shortened his stay by the sea-side;
for neither the place nor the weather seems to agree with him: he has
had a recurrence of wakeful nights, and is very languid. Poor boy!
yesterday he wandered out alone in the rain, lost his way, and came
home so fatigued that he slept fo