ee if he could learn
anything in conversation with him; but the Colonel did not seem to know
anything, and his sons were not at home. Young Morville was, he thought,
a spirited lad, very good natured; he had been out shooting once or
twice with Tom, and had a very fine spaniel. If he had been at the
races, the Colonel did not know it; he had some thoughts of asking him
to join their party, but had been prevented.

This was no reason, thought Philip, why Guy might not have been with Tom
Harewood without the Colonel's knowledge. Tom was just the man to lead
him amongst those who were given to betting; he might have been drawn
in, and, perhaps, he had given some pledge of payment when he was of
age, or, possibly, obtained an immediate supply of money from the old
steward at Redclyffe, who was devotedly attached to him. If so,
Philip trusted to be able to detect it from the accounts; on the other
supposition, there was no hope of discovery.

The conversation with Colonel Harewood kept him so late that he had no
time for going, as usual, to his old haunts, at Stylehurst; nor did
he feel inclined just then to revive the saddening reflections they
excited. He spent the evening in talking over books with his sister, and
the next day proceeded on his journey to Thorndale Park.

This was one of the places where he was always the most welcome, ever
since he had been a school-boy, received in a way especially flattering,
considering that the friendship was entirely owing to the uncompromising
good sense and real kindness with which he had kept in order the follies
of his former fag.

Charles might laugh, and call them the young man and young man's
companion, and Guy more classically term them the pious Aeneas and his
fidus Achates, but it was a friendship that did honour to both; and the
value that the Thorndales set upon Captain Morville was not misplaced,
and scarcely over-rated. Not particularly clever themselves, they the
more highly appreciated his endowments, and were proud that James had
been able to make such a friend, for they knew, as well as the rest of
the world, that Captain Morville was far from seeking the acquaintance
for the sake of their situation in life, but that it was from real
liking and esteem. How far this esteem was gained by the deference the
whole family paid to his opinion, was another question; at any rate, the
courting was from them.

The Miss Thorndales deemed Captain Morville the supreme author