ndred men at your orders, you would
be more in your place, I suspect. There is plenty of work for gentlemen
in these days, if not in Old England, at all events out of it. There
are many wrongs to be righted, and many good causes to be sustained.
There are many I could tell you of who would willingly accept the offer
of your sword."

Mrs Deane looked highly pleased at the compliment Mr Harwood was
paying her son, and thanked him with one of her beaming smiles, although
Cousin Nat screwed up his lips in a peculiar manner and gave a
significant look at Jack.

"Thank you, sir," said Jack, "but I have no fancy for offering my sword
to any one out of the country, however high he may bid for it, or in
using it, indeed, except in my own defence, or in that of my country. I
do not see what is amiss in the life of a drover, such as I hope to be
one of these days. It is no easy task, I should say, to drive three
hundred head of cattle from the Yorkshire hills down South, and I hope
in time to deal on a large scale, like Mr Strelley, and other friends I
know of."

"Well, well, Master Jack, you must take your own way," answered Mr
Harwood, "or be guided by your honoured parents: we will have a talk
another time about these matters."

Mr Deane's lips had become considerably compressed while his son was
speaking, and there was an hysterical cry from Aunt Bethia, whose great
wish had always been to see her favourite Jack figure in what she called
good society.

"You may quit the society of your equals, for which you have so little
respect, Jack," said his father in somewhat stern accents; "those you do
not value will take little pains to keep you among them; but let me hear
no more of this matter. Now, friends," he continued, making an effort
to recover his usual tone of voice, "fill the ladies' glasses, and keep
the bottles moving among you. Lads often talk nonsense when they fancy
they are talking sense, and so may I beg you to forget what my son Jack
has just said? He will think better on the subject another day."

"Don't be too hard on the lad, cousin," said Dr Nathaniel, turning to
the host. "It is a great thing, in my opinion, to get a young man to
choose a profession for himself. There are too many men like Jack who
are not content unless they can mount a helmet and jackboots, and go
about the world slaughtering their fellow-creatures without rhyme or
reason, should they not find a good cause to fight for. So, J