I shall try
to be the same. Have you your pipe with you?--At your age I hadn't begun
to smoke, and I should advise you to be moderate; but we'll have a whiff
together, if you like.'

'I'll go and fetch it,' Horace replied impulsively.

He came back with a rather expensive meerschaum, recently purchased.

'Hollo! luxuries!' exclaimed his father.

'It kept catching my eye in a window,--and at last I couldn't resist.
Tobacco's quite a different thing out of a pipe like this, you know.'

No one, seeing them thus together, could have doubted of the
affectionate feeling which Stephen Lord entertained for his son. It
appeared in his frequent glances, in the relaxation of his features,
in a certain abandonment of his whole frame, as though he had only just
begun to enjoy the evening's repose.

'I've something rather important to speak about, father,' Horace began,
when he had puffed for a few minutes in silence.

'Oh? What's that?'

'You remember telling me, when I was one and twenty, that you wished me
to work my way up, and win an income of my own, but that I could look to
you for help, if ever there was need of it--?'

Yes, Stephen remembered. He had frequently called it to mind, and
wondered whether it was wisely said, the youth's character considered.

'What of that?' he returned, still genially. 'Do you think of starting a
new line of ocean steamships?'

'Well, not just yet,' Horace answered, with an uncertain laugh. 'I have
something more moderate in view. I may start a competition with the P.
and O. presently.'

'Let's hear about it.'

'I dare say it will surprise you a little. The fact is, I--I am thinking
of getting married.'

The father did not move, but smoke ceased to issue from his lips, and
his eyes, fixed upon Horace, widened a little in puzzled amusement.

'Thinking of it, are you?' he said, in an undertone, as one speaks
of some trifle. 'No harm in thinking. Too many people do it without
thinking at all.'

'I'm not one of that kind,' said Horace, with an air of maturity which
was meant to rebuke his father's jest. 'I know what I'm about. I've
thought it over thoroughly. You don't think it too soon, I hope?'

Horace's pipe was going out; he held it against his knee and regarded it
with unconscious eyes.

'I dare say it won't be,' said Mr. Lord, 'when you have found a suitable
wife.'

'Oh, but you misunderstand me. I mean that I have decided to marry a
particular person.'

'And who ma