a less expensive regiment. Exchange effected; peace;
obscure country quarters; _ennui_, flute-playing and idleness. Mr. Digby
had no resources on a rainy day--except flute-playing; pretty girl of
inferior rank; all the officers after her; Digby smitten; pretty girl
very virtuous; Digby forms honorable intentions; excellent sentiments;
imprudent marriage. Digby falls in life; colonel's lady will not
associate with Mrs. Digby; Digby cut by his whole kith and kin; many
disagreeable circumstances in regimental life; Digby sells out; love in
a cottage; execution in ditto. Digby had been much applauded as an
amateur actor; thinks of the stage; genteel comedy--a gentlemanlike
profession. Tries in a provincial town, under another name; unhappily
succeeds; life of an actor; hand-to-mouth life; illness; chest affected;
Digby's voice becomes hoarse and feeble; not aware of it; attributes
failing success to ignorant provincial public; appears in London; is
hissed; returns to provinces; sinks into very small parts; prison;
despair; wife dies; appeal again to relations; a subscription made to
get rid of him; send him out of the country; place in
Canada--superintendent to an estate, L150 a year; pursued by ill-luck;
never before fit for business, not fit now; honest as the day, but keeps
slovenly accounts; child can not bear the winter of Canada; Digby
wrapped up in the child; return home; mysterious life for two years;
child patient, thoughtful, loving; has learned to work; manages for
father; often supports him; constitution rapidly breaking; thought of
what will become of this child--worst disease of all. Poor Digby! Never
did a base, cruel, unkind thing in his life; and here he is, walking
down the lane from Colonel Pompley's house! Now, if Digby had but
learned a little of the world's cunning, I think he would have succeeded
even with Colonel Pompley. Had he spent the L100 received from Lord
Estrange with a view to effect--had he bestowed a fitting wardrobe on
himself and his pretty Ellen; had he stopped at the last stage, taken
thence a smart chaise and pair, and presented himself at Colonel
Pompley's in a way that would not have discredited the Colonel's
connection, and then, instead of praying for home and shelter, asked the
Colonel to become guardian to his child in case of his death, I have a
strong notion that the Colonel, in spite of his avarice, would have
stretched both ends so as to take in Helen Digby. But our poor frien