d quite enough to do with his money in completing
Armine Castle, and maintaining its becoming splendour. The sanguine
Ferdinand returned to Malta with the conviction that he was his
grandfather's heir; and even Sir Ratcliffe was almost disposed to
believe that his son's expectations were not without some show of
probability, when he found that Lord Grandison had absolutely furnished
him with the funds for the purchase of his company.

Ferdinand was fond of his profession. He had entered it under favourable
circumstances. He had joined a crack regiment in a crack garrison. Malta
is certainly a delightful station. Its city, Valetta, equals in its
noble architecture, if it even do not excel, any capital in Europe;
and although it must be confessed that the surrounding region is little
better than a rock, the vicinity, nevertheless, of Barbary, of Italy,
and of Sicily, presents exhaustless resources to the lovers of the
highest order of natural beauty. If that fair Valetta, with its streets
of palaces, its picturesque forts and magnificent church, only crowned
some green and azure island of the Ionian Sea, Corfu for instance, I
really think that the ideal of landscape would be realised.

To Ferdinand, who was inexperienced in the world, the dissipation
of Malta, too, was delightful. It must be confessed that, under all
circumstances, the first burst of emancipation from domestic routine
hath in it something fascinating. However you may be indulged at home,
it is impossible to break the chain of childish associations; it is
impossible to escape from the feeling of dependence and the habit of
submission. Charming hour when you first order your own servants, and
ride your own horses, instead of your father's! It is delightful even
to kick about your own furniture; and there is something manly and
magnanimous in paying our own taxes. Young, lively, kind, accomplished,
good-looking, and well-bred, Ferdinand Armine had in him all the
elements of popularity; and the novelty of popularity quite intoxicated
a youth who had passed his life in a rural seclusion, where he had been
appreciated, but not huzzaed. Ferdinand was not only popular, but proud
of being popular. He was popular with the Governor, he was popular with
his Colonel, he was popular with his mess, he was popular throughout the
garrison. Never was a person so popular as Ferdinand Armine. He was the
best rider among them, and the deadliest shot; and he soon became an
or