es pious.

George was always amongst the most admiring of his brother's auditors, and
would feel a yearning of his heart towards him, at such moments, that was
painful. But George was too young and too heedless, to supply the place of
a monitor, or to draw his thoughts into a more salutary train. This was
the _duty_ of his parents, and should have been their _task_. But the
world, his rising honors, and his professional engagements, occupied the
time of the father; and fashion, parties, and pleasure, killed the time of
his mother. When they did think of their children, it was of George; the
painful image of Francis being seldom admitted to disturb their serenity.

George Denbigh was open-hearted without suspicion, and a favorite. The
first quality taxed his generosity, the second subjected him to fraud, and
the third supplied him with the means. But these means sometimes failed.
The fortune of the general, though handsome, was not more than competent
to support his style of living. He expected to be a duke himself one day,
and was anxious to maintain an appearance now that would not disgrace his
future elevation. A system of strict but liberal economy had been adopted
in the case of his sons. They had, for the sake of appearances, a stated
and equal allowance.

The duke had offered to educate the heir himself, and under his own eye.
But to this Lady Margaret had found some ingenious excuse, and one that
seemed to herself and the world honorable to her natural feeling; but had
the offer been made to George, these reasons would have vanished in the
desire to advance his interests, or to gratify his propensities. Such
decisions are by no means uncommon; parents having once decided on the
merits and abilities of their children, frequently decline the
interference of third persons, since the improvement of their denounced
offspring might bring their own judgment into question, if it did not
convey an indirect censure on their justice.

The heedlessness of George brought his purse to a state of emptiness. His
last guinea was gone, and two months were wanting to the end of the
quarter. George had played and been cheated. He had ventured to apply to
his mother for small sums, when his dress or some trifling indulgence
required an advance; and always with success. But here were sixty guineas
gone at a blow, and pride, candor, forbade his concealing the manner of
his loss, if he made the application. This was dreadful; his own