e universe to consent to marry him, and
his aunt (by-the-way, you will meet her there, too--Lady Mary
Cunningham) had murmured something vague but gratifying about
testamentary intentions. A week later Providence fills his brimming cup
with a legacy of jewels, estimated at----" Charles opened his light
sleepy eyes wide and looked inquiringly at me. "What are they estimated
at?" he asked, as I did not answer.

I really had no idea, but I shrugged my shoulders and looked wise.

"Estimated at a fabulous sum," he said, closing his eyes again. "Ah! had
they been mine, with what joyful alacrity should I have ascertained
their exact money value. And mine they ought to have been, if the sacred
law of primogeniture (that special Providence which watches over the
interests of eldest sons) had been duly observed. Sir John had not the
pleasure of my acquaintance, but I fear he must have heard some
reports--no doubt entirely without foundation--respecting my career,
which had induced him to pass me over in this manner. What a moral! My
father and my aunt Mary are always delicately pointing out the
difference between Ralph and myself. I wish I were a good young man,
like Ralph. It seems to pay best in the long-run; but I may as well
inform you, Colonel Middleton, of the painful fact that I am the black
sheep of the family."

"Oh, come, come!" I remarked, uneasily.

"I should not have alluded to the subject if you were not likely to
become fully aware of it on your arrival, so I will be beforehand with
my relations. I was brought up in the way I should go," he continued,
with the utmost unconcern, as if commenting on something that did not
affect him in the least; "but I did not walk in it, partly owing to the
uncongenial companionship that it involved, especially that of my aunt
Mary, who took up so much room herself in the narrow path that she
effectually kept me out of it. From my earliest youth, also, I took
extreme interest in the parable of the Prodigal, and as soon as it
became possible I exemplified it myself. I may even say that I acted the
part in a manner that did credit to a beginner; but the wind-up was
ruined by the lamentable inability of others, who shall be nameless, to
throw themselves into the spirit of the piece. At various intervals," he
continued, always as if speaking of some one else, "I have returned
home, but I regret to say that on each occasion my reception was not in
any way what I could have wished. T