n's journey, 'You might as well have told me of
your intentions, Aubrey.'

'I didn't think they mattered to anybody,' said Aubrey; 'we generally
go our own way in the afternoon.'

'Oh!' said Dr. May. 'Interference with the liberty of the subject?'

Aubrey coloured, and felt he had not quite spoken truth. 'I could not
give him up, father,' he said, less defiantly.

'No, certainly not; but I had rather you only saw him at home. It will
be more for our peace of mind.'

'Well, father,' said Aubrey, 'I am not going there any more. He told
me not himself:' and then with laughing eyes he added, 'He said you
would not like it, Ethel.'

'Poor boy!' said Ethel, greatly touched.

'Very right of him,' said Dr. May, well pleased. 'He is a fine lad,
and full of proper feeling. What sort of a berth has the old rogue
given him, Aubrey?'

Much relieved that matters had taken this course, Aubrey tried to tell
only as much as his friend would approve, but the medium was not easily
found, and pretty nearly the whole came out. Dr. May was really
delighted to hear how Sam treated him.

'If that fellow takes the oppressive line, there may be some hope,' he
said. 'His friendship is the worse danger than his enmity.'

When the sisters had bidden good night, the Doctor detained Aubrey to
say very kindly, 'My boy, I do not like to hear of your running counter
to your sister.

'I'm not going there again,' said Aubrey, willing to escape.

'Wait a minute, Aubrey,' said Dr. May; 'I want to tell you that I feel
for you in this matter more than my way of talking may have made it
seem to you. I have a great regard for your friend Leonard, and think
he has been scandalously used, and I don't want to lessen your
attachment to him. Far be it from me to think lightly of a friendship,
especially of one formed at your age. Your very name, my boy, shows
that I am not likely to do that!'

Aubrey smiled frankly, his offended self-assertion entirely melted.

'I know it is very hard on you, but you can understand that the very
reasons that made me so averse to Leonard's taking this situation,
would make me anxious to keep you away from his relations there, not
necessarily from him. As long as he is what he is now, I would not
lift a finger to keep you from him. Have I ever done so, Aubrey?'

'No, papa.'

'Nor will I, as long as he is what I see him now. After this, Aubrey,
is it too much to ask of you to keep out of the way of the