More likely I shall, at any rate for a time, remain at home.
My mother has no other child, and it is a lonely life, indeed, for
her."

"Do you not think of settling here?"

"What is there for me to do, count, outside the army? I could not
turn merchant, for I should assuredly be bankrupt, at the end of
the first month; nor could I well turn cultivator, when I have no
land to dig. Now, however, my future is determined for me; and a
point that has, I own, troubled me much, has been decided without
an effort on my part."

The conversation was continued for some little time, the count
asking many questions about Fergus's ancestral home, the scenery,
and mode of life. Fergus noticed that Thirza took no part in the
conversation, but sat still; and looked, he thought, pale.

The days succeeded each other quietly and uneventfully, and Fergus
gained strength rapidly; so that, in the middle of July, he began
to feel that he was again fit for service. One evening he was
sitting alone in the garden with the count, when the latter said to
him:

"You remember our conversation on the first evening of our coming
here, as to the impossibility of your doing anything, did you
remain out here after leaving the army. There was one solution to
which you did not allude. Many Scottish and Irish soldiers, both in
this country, in France, Austria, and Germany, have married well.
Why should you not do the same?"

Fergus was silent for a minute, and then he said:

"Yes, count; but they continued in the service, rose to the rank of
generals and, as in the case of my cousin Keith, to that of
marshal."

"But you might do the same, if you remained in the army," the count
said. "You are assuredly, by far, the youngest colonel in it. You
are a favourite of the king's, and might hope for anything."

"I am afraid, count, I have too much of our Scottish feeling of
independence; and should not, therefore, like to owe everything to
a wife."

"The feeling is creditable, if not carried too far," the count
said. "You have a position that is a most honourable one. You have
made your name famous in the army, where brave men are common. You
possess the qualities of youth, a splendid physique, and--I don't
wish to flatter you--a face that might win any woman's fancy. There
are none, however placed, who might not be proud of such a
son-in-law."

"You judge everyone by yourself, count," Fergus said slowly. "You
overrate my qualities, and forget the f