e must go abroad. There's no doubt about that. It's the only
place for him." So spoke Septimus Jones, who, though confidential
friend, was not admitted to the post of confidential adviser. Augustus
liked to have a depositary for his resolutions, but would admit no
advice. And Septimus Jones had become so much his creature that he had
to obey him in all things.

We are apt to think that a man may be disposed of by being made go
abroad; or, if he is absolutely penniless and useless, by being sent to
the colonies,--that he may become a shepherd and drink himself out of the
world. To kill the man, so that he may be no longer a nuisance, is
perhaps the chief object in both cases. But it was not easy to get the
captain to go abroad unless, indeed, he was sent back to Monte Carlo.
Some Monte Carlo, such as a club might be with stakes practically
unlimited, was the first desire of his heart. But behind that, or
together with it, was an anxious longing to remain near Tretton and "see
it out," as he called it, when his father should die. His father must
die very shortly, and he would like "to see it out," as he told Mr.
Grey; and, with this wish, there was a longing also for the company of
Florence Mountjoy.

He used to tell himself, in those moments of sad thoughts,--thoughts
serious as well as sad, which will come even to a gambler,--that if he
could have Tretton and Florence Mountjoy he would never touch another
card. And there was present to him an assurance that his aunt, Mrs.
Mountjoy, would still be on his side. If he could talk over his
circumstances with Mrs. Mountjoy, he thought that he might be encouraged
to recover his position as an English gentleman. His debts at the club
had already been paid, and he had met on the sly a former friend, who
had given him some hope that he might be re-admitted. But at the present
moment his mind turned to Brussels. He had learned that Florence and her
mother were at the embassy there, and, though he hesitated, still he
desired to go. But this was not the "abroad" contemplated by Augustus.
Augustus did not think it well that his father's bastard son, who had
been turned out of a London club for not paying his card debts, and had
then disappeared in a mysterious way for six months, should show himself
at the British embassy, and there claim admittance and relationship. Nor
was he anxious that his brother should see Florence Mountjoy. He had
suggested a prolonged tour in South America,