hen
identified, will go back to the country from whence he came, and will
rid the widow of you and himself together. And so that boy of yours
loses at once all title to old Spell's property, and it goes to your
wife's daughter. Ain't I making myself pretty clearly understood?"

"You wouldn't be so cruel to that poor boy, would you, Pendennis?" asked
the father, pleading piteously; "hang it, think about him. He's a nice
boy: though he's dev'lish wild, I own he's dev'lish wild."

"It's you who are cruel to him," said the old moralist. "Why, sir,
you'll ruin him yourself inevitably in three years."

"Yes, but perhaps I won't have such dev'lish bad luck, you know;--the
luck must turn: and I'll reform, by Gad, I'll reform. And if you were
to split on me, it would cut up my wife so; you know it would, most
infernally."

"To be parted from you," said the old Major, with a sneer; "you know she
won't live with you again."

"But why can't Lady C. live abroad, or at Bath, or at Tunbridge, or at
the doose, and I go on here?" Clavering continued. "I like being here
better than abroad, and I like being in Parliament. It's dev'lish
convenient being in Parliament. There's very few seats like mine left;
and if I gave it to 'em, I should not wonder the ministry would give
me an island to govern, or some dev'lish good thing; for you know I'm
a gentleman of dev'lish good family, and have a handle to my name,
and--and that sort of thing, Major Pendennis. Eh, don't you see? Don't
you think they'd give me something dev'lish good if I was to play my
cards well? And then, you know, I'd save money, and be kept out of the
way of the confounded hells and rouge et noir--and--and so I'd rather
not give up Parliament, please." For at one instant to hate and defy
a man, at the next to weep before him, and at the next to be perfectly
confidential and friendly with him, was not an unusual process with our
versatile-minded Baronet.

"As for your seat in Parliament," the Major said, with something of a
blush on his cheek, and a certain tremor, which the other did not see,
"you must part with that, Sir Francis Clavering, to--to me."

"What! are you going into the House, Major Pendennis?"

"No--not I; but my nephew, Arthur, is a very clever fellow and would
make a figure there: and when Clavering had two members, his father
might very likely have been one; and--and should like Arthur to be
there," the Major said.

"Dammy, does he know it, too?" c