you all declare. There is nothing in
the world that I can see to prevent him keeping his living and doing
as he pleases, as most parsons do. However, that's his own business.
It is Frank's case which is the edifying case to me. If my convictions
of sin had gone just a step farther," said the pitiless critic, "if I
had devoted myself to bringing others to repentance, as is the first
duty of a reformed sinner, my aunt Leonora would not have hesitated to
give Skelmersdale to me--"

"Jack, hold your tongue," said Miss Leonora; but though her cheeks
burned, her voice was not so firm as usual, and she actually failed in
putting down the man who had determined to have his say.

"Fact, my dear aunt," said Jack; "if I had been a greater rascal than
I am, and gone a little farther, you and your people would have
thought me quite fit for a cure of souls. I'd have come in for your
good things that way as well as other ways; but here is Frank, who
even I can see is a right sort of parson. I don't pretend to fixed
theological opinions," said this unlooked-for oracle, with a comic
glance aside at Gerald, the most unlikely person present to make any
response; "but, so far as I can see, he's a kind of fellow most men
would be glad to make a friend of when they were under a cloud--not
that he was ever very civil to me. I tell you, so far from rewarding
him for being of the true sort, you do nothing but snub him, that I
can see. He looks to me as good for work as any man I know; but
you'll give your livings to any kind of wretched make-believe before
you'll give them to Frank. I am aware," said the heir of the
Wentworths, with a momentary flush, "that I have never been considered
much of a credit to the family; but if I were to announce my intention
of marrying and settling, there is not one of the name that would not
lend a hand to smooth matters. That is the reward of wickedness," said
Jack, with a laugh; "as for Frank, he's a perpetual curate, and may
marry perhaps fifty years hence; that's the way you good people treat
a man who never did anything to be ashamed of in his life; and you
expect me to give up my evil courses after such a lesson? I trust I am
not such a fool," said the relapsed prodigal. He sat looking at them
all in his easy way, enjoying the confusion, the indignation, and
wrath with which his address was received. "The man who gets his own
way is the man who takes it," he concluded, with his usual composure,
pouring