on's admirer--not relishing pistols and coffee, made no objection
to the young lady; but he absolutely refused to take her empty
handed, and, in consequence, Jonas and Fred had to hand him over
their joint bond for two thousand pounds, before he would be
induced to make her mistress of Castle Armstrong. There she now
reigned supreme, and it is to be hoped, for the sake of the future
generation, that she had by this time learnt to transfer her
attention from the stable to the nursery.

The Browns were at any rate quit of the young lady, and had Brown
Hall now wholly to themselves; and this was a satisfaction. Still
the hundred a year which they had to pay their dear brother-in-law,
Toby, was a great loss to them, and made it more improbable that when
the old man should be gathered to his fathers, George should have
anything to subsist on except his brother's affection and bounty.

As Fred inherited all his father's love of money, joined to an
irresistible passion for everything that he called pleasure; and as
he was already continually quarrelling with his younger brother, who
was as continually impertinent to him, George's prospect in life
was not particularly bright. As to turning his mind to any useful
pursuit--studying for any profession, or endeavouring in any way to
earn his own bread honestly--he would have been as angered and felt
as insulted by such a proposition, as though any one had asked him to
turn cobbler, and sit cross-legged at the window of one of the little
shops at Carrick-on-Shannon.

As, however, he at present had food to eat, wine to drink, horses to
ride, and usually cash to bet with, he concerned himself but little
for the future; and we, therefore, may fairly be equally apathetic
respecting it. It would not, however, be difficult to foretell his
fate. Should he not break his neck before his father's death, he will
quarrel with and slander his brother; he will ride for those who are
young and green enough to trust their horses to him, and pay him for
mounting them; he will spunge upon all his acquaintance till he is
turned out of their houses; he will be a hanger on at the Curragh and
all race-courses; he will finally become a blackleg and swindler; and
will die in the Marshalsea, if he does not, as he most probably will,
break his neck by a fall from the saddle; for, to the last, George
will preserve his pluck--the only quality on which he could ever
pride himself.

On the morning of the ra