lowed his name
sometimes to slip through my lips, when it was against your expressed
wish. But it has been my own mistake, Sir. We have never exchanged one
word upon the subject--very few, indeed, on any subject. And it has not
been,' added Walter, after a moment's pause, 'all heedlessness on my
part, Sir; for I have felt an interest in Mr Carker ever since I have
been here, and have hardly been able to help speaking of him sometimes,
when I have thought of him so much!'

Walter said this from his soul, and with the very breath of honour. For
he looked upon the bowed head, and the downcast eyes, and upraised hand,
and thought, 'I have felt it; and why should I not avow it in behalf of
this unfriended, broken man!'

Mr Carker the Manager looked at him, as he spoke, and when he had
finished speaking, with a smile that seemed to divide his face into two
parts.

'You are an excitable youth, Gay,' he said; 'and should endeavour to
cool down a little now, for it would be unwise to encourage feverish
predispositions. Be as cool as you can, Gay. Be as cool as you can.
You might have asked Mr John Carker himself (if you have not done so)
whether he claims to be, or is, an object of such strong interest.'

'James, do me justice,' said his brother. 'I have claimed nothing; and I
claim nothing. Believe me, on my--

'Honour?' said his brother, with another smile, as he warmed himself
before the fire.

'On my Me--on my fallen life!' returned the other, in the same low
voice, but with a deeper stress on his words than he had yet seemed
capable of giving them. 'Believe me, I have held myself aloof, and kept
alone. This has been unsought by me. I have avoided him and everyone.

'Indeed, you have avoided me, Mr Carker,' said Walter, with the tears
rising to his eyes; so true was his compassion. 'I know it, to my
disappointment and regret. When I first came here, and ever since, I
am sure I have tried to be as much your friend, as one of my age could
presume to be; but it has been of no use.

'And observe,' said the Manager, taking him up quickly, 'it will be of
still less use, Gay, if you persist in forcing Mr John Carker's name on
people's attention. That is not the way to befriend Mr John Carker. Ask
him if he thinks it is.'

'It is no service to me,' said the brother. 'It only leads to such a
conversation as the present, which I need not say I could have well
spared. No one can be a better friend to me:' he spoke here very