hall. Oblivious of the gorgeous
ceremony in which he was playing the principal part, the young Marquis
of Montacute stared at the pictures of the Crusader, and a wild,
fantastical idea took hold of him.

He was the only child of the Duke of Bellamont, and all the high
nobility of England were assembled to celebrate his coming of age.
Everything that fortune could bestow seemed to have been given to him.
He was the heir of the greatest and richest of English dukes, and his
life was made smooth and easy. His father had got a seat in parliament
waiting for him, and his mother had already selected a noble and
beautiful young lady for his wife. Neither of them had yet consulted
their son, but Tancred was so sweet and gentle a boy that they did not
dream he would oppose their wishes. They had planned out his life for
him ever since he was born, with the view to educating him for the
position which he was to occupy in the English aristocracy, and he had
always taken the path which they had chosen for him.

In the evening, the duke summoned his son into his library.

"My dear Tancred," he said, "I have a piece of good news for you on your
birthday. Hungerford feels that he cannot represent our constituency now
that you have come of age, and, with great kindness, he is resigning his
seat in your favour. He says that the Marquis of Montacute ought to
stand for the town of Montacute, so you will be able to enter parliament
at once."

"But I do not wish to enter parliament," said Tancred.

The duke leant back from his desk with a look of painful surprise on his
face.

"Not enter parliament?" he exclaimed. "Every Lord Montacute has gone
into the House of Commons before taking his seat in the House of Lords.
It is an excellent training."

"I am not anxious to enter the House of Lords either," said Tancred.
"And I hope, my dear father," he added, with a smile that lit up his
young, grave, beautiful face, "that it will be very, very long before I
succeed to your place there."

"What, then, do you intend to do, my boy?" said Bellamont, in intense
perplexity. "You are the heir to one of the greatest positions in the
state, and you have duties to perform. How are you going to fit yourself
for them?"

"That is what I have been thinking of for years," said Tancred. "Oh, my
dear father, if you knew how long and earnestly I have prayed for
guidance! Yes, I have duties to perform! But in this wild, confused, and
aimless age of ours