y arm. Of that by and by. The point is,
that from your oath in Parliament you fly to Sarkeld. I implore you now,
by your love for me and the princess, not to lose precious minutes.
Richie, we will press things so that you shall be in Sarkeld by the end
of the month. My son! my dear boy! how you loved me once!--you do still!
then follow my directions. I have a head. Ay, you think it wild? 'Tis
true, my mother was a poetess. But I will convince my son as I am
convincing the world-tut, tut! To avoid swelling talk, I tell you,
Richie, I have my hand on the world's wheel, and now is the time for you
to spring from it and gain your altitude. If you fail, my success is
emptiness.'

'Will you avoid Edbury and his like, and protect yourself?' was my form
of stipulation, spoken to counteract his urgency.

He gave no answer beyond a wave of the hand suitable to his princely
one-coloured costume of ruffled lavender silk, and the magnificent leg he
turned to front me. My senses even up to that period were so
impressionable as to be swayed by a rich dress and a grand manner when
circumstances were not too unfavourable. Now they seemed very favourable,
for they offered me an upward path to tread. His appearance propitiated
me less after he had passed through the hands of his man Tollingby, but I
had again surrendered the lead to him. As to the risk of proceedings
being taken against him, he laughed scornfully at the suggestion. 'They
dare not. The more I dare, the less dare they.' Again I listened to his
curious roundabout reasoning, which dragged humour at its heels like a
comical cur, proclaiming itself imposingly, in spite of the mongrel's
barking, to be prudence and common sense. Could I deny that I owed him
gratitude for the things I cherished most?--for my acquaintance with
Ottilia?--for his services in Germany?--for the prospect of my elevation
in England? I could not; and I tried hard to be recklessly grateful. As
to money, he reiterated that he could put his hand on it to satisfy the
squire on the day of accounts: for the present, we must borrow. His
argument upon borrowing--which I knew well, and wondered that I did not
at the outset disperse with a breath of contempt--gained on me singularly
when reviewed under the light of my immediate interests: it ran thus:--We
have a rich or a barren future, just as we conceive it. The art of
generalship in life consists in gathering your scattered supplies to suit
a momentous occasion