uely indeed,--a sort of Turner in his later style of cloud and
vapor,--his own great future. Not very clear and distinct the steps by
which he was fated to rise, but palpable enough the great elevation he
was ultimately to occupy.

"Don't imagine, old fellow," said he, laying his hand on Tony's
shoulders, "that I am going to forget you when that time comes. I'm not
going to leave you a Queen's messenger."

"What could you make of me?" said Tony, despondently.

"Fifty things," said the other, with a confidence that seemed to say,
"I, Skeffy, am equal to more than this; fifty things. You, of course,
cannot be expected to know it, but I can tell you, it's far harder
to get a small place than a big one,--harder to be a corporal than a
lieutenant-general."

"How do you explain that?" asked Tony, with an eager curiosity.

"You can't understand it without knowing life. I cannot convey to you
how to win a trick where you don't know the game." And Skeffy showed, by
the impatient way he tried to light a fresh cigar, that he was not fully
satisfied with the force or clearness of his own explanation; and he
went on: "You see, old fellow, when you have climbed up some rungs of
the ladder with a certain amount of assurance, many will think you are
determined to get to the top."

"Well, but if a man's ladder has only one rung, as I imagine is the case
with mine!" broke in Tony.

Skeffy looked at his companion for a moment, half surprised that he
should have carried out the figure, and then laughed heartily, as he
said, "Splice it to mine, my boy; it will bear us both."

It was no use that Tony shook his head and looked despondingly;
there was a hopeful warmth about Skeffy not to be extinguished by any
discouragement. In fact, if a shade of dissatisfaction seemed ever to
cloud the brightness of his visions, it was the fear lest, even in his
success, some other career might be neglected wherein the rewards were
greater and the prizes more splendid. He knew, and he did not scruple to
declare that he knew, if he had been a soldier he 'd have risen to the
highest command. If he 'd have gone to the bar, he'd have ended on the
woolsack. Had he "taken that Indian appointment," he 'd have been high
up by this time on the Council, with his eye on Government House for a
finish. "That's what depresses me about diplomacy, Tony. The higher you
go, the less sure you are. They--I mean your own party--give you Paris
or St. Petersburg, we 'll