bish, and sit down quietly and listen to reason."

I felt annoyed, and would not resume my place beside him, but, assuming
a very stately air, seated myself opposite to my tormentor on a huge
iron chest, which was the only seat, save the bed, in the room; and
then, fixing my eyes reproachfully upon him, I sat as stiff as a poker,
without relaxing a muscle of my face.

He laughed outright.

"You are displeased with my bluntness, Geoffrey, and I am amused with
your dignity. That solemn, proud face would become the Lord Chancellor
of England."

"Hold your tongue, you tormentor; I won't be laughed at in this absurd
manner. What have I done to deserve such a sermon?"

"'Vanity, vanity, all is vanity, saith the preacher,' and surely,
Geoffrey, your vanity exceeds all other vanity. I hint at a fault, and
point it out for correction. You imagine yourself perfection, and are
up in arms in a moment. Answer me, seriously: do you ever expect to
settle in life?"

"I have dared to cherish the forlorn hope."

"Forlorn as it is, you are taking the best method to destroy it."

"What would you have me do?"

"Yield to circumstances."

"Become a villain?" This was said with a very tragic air.

"May Heaven forbid! I should be sorry to see you so nearly resemble
your uncle. But I would have you avoid uselessly offending him; for, by
constantly inflaming his mind to anger, you may ruin your own
prospects, and be driven in desperation to adopt measures for obtaining
a living, scarcely less dishonourable than his own."

"Go on," I cried: "it is all very well for you to talk in this
philosophical strain. You have not been educated in the same bitter
school with me; you have not known what it is to writhe beneath the
oppressive authority of this cold, unfeeling man; you cannot understand
the nature of my sufferings, or the painful humiliation I must daily
endure."

He took my hand affectionately.

"Geoffrey," said he, "how do you know all this? Yours is not a
profession which allows men to jump at conclusions. What can you tell
of my past or present trials. What if I should say, they had been far
greater and worse to bear than your own?"

"Impossible!"

"All things that have reference to sorrow and trouble, in this world,
are only too possible. But I will have patience with you, my poor
friend; your heart is very sore. The deadly wounds in mine are
partially healed; yet, my experience of life has been bought with
bitter tear