in doing so.'

'If it was only Percy that was concerned, I might get him to risk it,
and then double it, and set him and Theodora going handsomely; but--No,
it is of no use to think about it. I wish it could be--'

'You are quite right, I am sure.'

'The thing that settles it with me is this,' continued Arthur. 'It is
a way of business that would throw me with the old set, and there is no
safety but in keeping clear of them. I might have been saved all this
if I had not been ass enough to put my neck into Gardner's noose that
unlucky Derby-day. I had promised never to bet again after I married,
and this is the end of it! So I think I have no right to run into
temptation again, even for the chance of getting clear. Do you?'

'You are quite right,' she repeated. 'If the money is not our own, it
would only be another sort--'

'Of gambling. Ay! And though in those days I did not see things as I
do now, and Hunt is another sort of fellow, I fancy you had rather not
trust me, mamma?' said he, looking with a rather sad though arch smile
into her face.

'Dear Arthur, you know--'

'I know I won't trust myself,' he answered, trying to laugh it off. 'And
you'll be a good child, and not cry for the cottage?'

'Oh, no! Mamma and I both thought there might possibly be considerations
against it, especially as the girls grow up.'

'That's right. I could not bear giving up what you seemed to fancy.
but we will visit them when we want a mouthful of air, and Annette and
Octavia shall come and stay with us. I should like to show Octavia a
little of the world.'

'Then, we shall go on as we are?'

'Yes; spend as little as may be, and pay off so much a year. If we keep
no horses, that is so much clear gain.'

'That seems the best way; but I almost fear your being well without
riding.'

'No fear of that! I don't want to go out, and you never do. We will take
our long walks, and, as Percy says, I will read and be rational. I mean
to begin Johnnie's Latin as soon as we are settled in. Why, I quite look
forward to it.'

'How delighted Johnnie will be!'

'We shall do famously!' repeated Arthur. 'Nothing like home, after all.'

Violet did not think he quite knew what he undertook, and her heart sank
at the idea of a London winter, with his health and spirits failing for
want of his usual resources. He imagined himself perfectly recovered;
but when he went the next day to show himself to the doctor, the
stethoscope revealed tha