constant reminders of his poor health were very unwelcome to the
unlucky Roger, who protested that he was in perfect health; and, to
prove it, went out next day, in a cold November fog, with no overcoat.
The consequence was he caught a severe cold, and had the mortification
of listening to a severe lecture from his solicitous guardian on the
iniquity of trifling with his precious health.

Roger, too proud to admit that he could not take care of himself,
declined to treat himself as an invalid, and insisted on claiming his
guardian's promise to show him a little life in the great city.

It was surprising how many acquaintances Rosalind's father had in
London. Some were pleasant enough--military men on leave, and here and
there a civilian's family who remembered the captain and his charming
family in the Hills.

Roger accepted their hospitality and listened to their Indian small-talk
with great good-humour, and when now and then some sympathetic soul,
guessing, as a good many did, one of the lad's secrets, talked
admiringly of Rosalind, he felt himself rewarded for a good deal of
long-suffering. Had he heard some of the jokes passed behind his back,
his satisfaction might have been considerably tempered.

"I always said," observed one shrewd dowager, "that Oliphant would make
a catch with that daughter of his. He has done it, evidently. This boy
will be worth five or ten thousand a year, I hear."

"Poor fellow! He looks as if it will be a battle with him to reach it.
What a cough!"

"I can't understand Oliphant not taking better care of him. He drags
him about all over town, as if the boy were cast iron. I met them out
twice this week."

"Certainly one cannot afford to play fast and loose with the goose that
lays the golden eggs."

The "goose" in question made other acquaintances than these. In his
bachelor days Captain Oliphant had "knocked about" in London pretty
considerably, and had a notion, now that he was a bachelor again, to
repeat the process. Roger--a raw country boy, as the reader by this
time will admit--found himself entered upon a gay round of club and
Bohemian life, which to an old stager like the captain may have seemed a
little slow, but to a susceptible youth was decidedly attractive. The
guardian's fast acquaintances made the young heir of Maxfield welcome,
and might have proceeded to pluck him had his protector permitted.
Roger speedily discovered what hundreds of locks there are wh