. But you,
Frank, you might have done some good, without that nasty twist of
yours for writing and for rhyming, which is a sure indication of spinal
complaint. Don't interrupt me; I speak from long experience. Things
might be worse, and I ought to be thankful. None of my children will
ever disgrace me. At the same time, things would go on better if I were
able to be more at home. That Caryl Carne, for instance, what does he
come here for?"

"Well, sir, he has only been here twice. And it took a long time to
persuade him at all. He said that as you had not called upon him, he
felt that he might be intruding here. And Faith, who is sometimes very
spiteful, bowed, as much as to say that he had better wait. But Dolly,
who is very kind-hearted, assured him that she had heard you say at
least a dozen times: 'Be sure that I call upon Mr. Carne to-day. What
will he think of my neglect? But I hope that he will set it down to the
right cause--the perpetual demands upon my time.' And when she told him
that, he said that he would call the next day, and so he did."

"Ah!" cried the old man, not well pleased; "it was Dolly who took that
little business off my shoulders! She might have been content with her
elder sister's judgment, in a family question of that sort. But I dare
say she thought it right to make my excuses. Very well, I'll do that for
myself. To-morrow I shall call upon that young man, unless I get another
despatch to-night. But I hear he wants nobody at his ruins. I suppose he
has not asked even you to go there?"

"No, sir; I think he took his little place here, because it would be so
painful for him to receive any friends at that tumble-down castle. He
has not yet been able to do any repairs."

"I respect him for that," said the Admiral, with his generous sympathies
aroused; "they have been a grand old family, though I can't say much for
those I knew--except, of course, Mrs. Twemlow. But he may be a very fine
young fellow, though a great deal too Frenchified, from all I hear. And
why my friend Twemlow cold-shoulders him so, is something of a mystery
to me. Twemlow is generally a judicious man in things that have nothing
to do with the Church. When it comes to that, he is very stiff-backed,
as I have often had to tell him. Perhaps this young man is a Papist. His
mother was, and she brought him up."

"I am sure I don't know, sir," answered Frank. "I should think none
the worse of him if he were, unless he allowed it