ch he should not have been fond. I
suppose it is considered a pleasure."

Felix gave his light laugh. "My dear uncle, is there any doubt about its
being a pleasure? C'est de son age, as they say in France."

"I should have said rather it was a vice of later life--of disappointed
old age."

Felix glanced at his uncle, with his lifted eyebrows, and then, "Of what
are you speaking?" he demanded, smiling.

"Of the situation in which Clifford was found."

"Ah, he was found--he was caught?"

"Necessarily, he was caught. He could n't walk; he staggered."

"Oh," said Felix, "he drinks! I rather suspected that, from something I
observed the first day I came here. I quite agree with you that it is a
low taste. It 's not a vice for a gentleman. He ought to give it up."

"We hope for a good deal from Mr. Brand's influence," Mr. Wentworth went
on. "He has talked to him from the first. And he never touches anything
himself."

"I will talk to him--I will talk to him!" Felix declared, gayly.

"What will you say to him?" asked his uncle, with some apprehension.

Felix for some moments answered nothing. "Do you mean to marry him to
his cousin?" he asked at last.

"Marry him?" echoed Mr. Wentworth. "I should n't think his cousin would
want to marry him."

"You have no understanding, then, with Mrs. Acton?"

Mr. Wentworth stared, almost blankly. "I have never discussed such
subjects with her."

"I should think it might be time," said Felix. "Lizzie Acton is
admirably pretty, and if Clifford is dangerous...."

"They are not engaged," said Mr. Wentworth. "I have no reason to suppose
they are engaged."

"Par exemple!" cried Felix. "A clandestine engagement? Trust me,
Clifford, as I say, is a charming boy. He is incapable of that. Lizzie
Acton, then, would not be jealous of another woman."

"I certainly hope not," said the old man, with a vague sense of jealousy
being an even lower vice than a love of liquor.

"The best thing for Clifford, then," Felix propounded, "is to become
interested in some clever, charming woman." And he paused in his
painting, and, with his elbows on his knees, looked with bright
communicativeness at his uncle. "You see, I believe greatly in the
influence of women. Living with women helps to make a man a gentleman.
It is very true Clifford has his sisters, who are so charming. But there
should be a different sentiment in play from the fraternal, you know. He
has Lizzie Acton; but she, perhaps, i