if they
sometimes fell to rating and crying shame upon him. He knew his
popularity; he knew that he had a fine figure and a handsome face;
he knew that he had the sort of address which carried him through
his scrapes and adventures with flying colours. He found the world
a pleasant place, and saw no reason why he should not enjoy himself
in his own way whilst he was young. Some day he would marry and
sober down, and live as his fathers had done before him; but,
meantime, he meant to have his fling.

There were other Tuftons who had done the like before him, as his
father knew to his cost. Several times had the estate been sadly
impoverished by the demands made upon it by some of the wild
younger brothers, who had bequeathed (as it seemed) their
characteristics to this young scion, Tom. The Squire himself had
been living with great economy, that he might pay off a mortgage
which had been contracted by his own father, in order to save the
honour of the family, which had been imperilled by the extravagance
of his brother.

Tom never troubled himself about these things. He cared little how
his father scraped and saved, if he had but money in his pockets
sufficient for the needs of the day. Extravagance in money was less
Tom's foible than recklessness in his exploits, and a daring
disregard of authority. No doubt he would have made away with money
had he possessed it; but as everybody knew that he did not possess
a long purse, and that the Squire would not be likely to pay his
son's debts of honour, he was saved from the temptation of plunging
deeply into debt. People did not care to trust him too far.

So, as he climbed the shallow stairs three at once, he told himself
that his father had no need to speak severely to him. He had only
been as other young men, and had not got into serious debt or
trouble. Tom had almost persuaded himself, in fact, that he had
been on the whole a very estimable sort of youth, and he entered
the sick room with something of a swaggering air, as much as to say
that he had no cause for shame.

But at the sight which greeted his eyes, as they met those of the
sick man, a sobering change came over him. He had seen death
sometimes, and the sight of it had always painfully affected him.
He hated to be brought up short, as it were, and forced to see the
serious, the solemn, the awe inspiring in life. He wanted to live
in the present; he did not want to be forced to face the inevitable
future.