uctions beyond the
mere supply of the raiment for which he had been summoned; and a large
patent portmanteau, containing all that might constitute the liberal
outfit of a young man in the rank of gentleman, had arrived at Fawley,
and amazed and moved Lionel, whom Darrell had by this time thoroughly
reconciled to the acceptance of benefits. The gift denoted this: "In
recognizing you as kinsman, I shall henceforth provide for you as
gentleman." Darrell indeed meditated applying for an appointment in
one of the public offices, the settlement of a liberal allowance, and
a parting shake of the hand, which should imply, "I have now behaved as
becomes me: the rest belongs to you. We may never meet again. There is
no reason why this good-by may not be forever."

But in the course of that ride, Darrell's intentions changed. Wherefore?
You will never guess! Nothing so remote as the distance between cause
and effect, and the cause for the effect here was--poor little Sophy.

The day was fresh, with a lovely breeze, as the two riders rode
briskly over the turf of rolling commons, with the feathery boughs of
neighbouring woodlands tossed joyously to and fro by the sportive summer
wind. The exhilarating exercise and air raised Lionel's spirits,
and released his tongue from all trammels; and when a boy is in high
spirits, ten to one but he grows a frank egotist, feels the teeming
life of his individuality, and talks about himself. Quite unconsciously,
Lionel rattled out gay anecdotes of his school-days; his quarrel with a
demoniacal usher; how he ran away; what befell him; how the doctor went
after, and brought him back; how splendidly the doctor behaved,--neither
flogged nor expelled him, but after patiently listening, while he
rebuked the pupil, dismissed the usher, to the joy of the whole academy;
how he fought the head boy in the school for calling the doctor a sneak;
how, licked twice, he yet fought that head boy a third time, and licked
him; how, when head boy himself, he had roused the whole school into a
civil war, dividing the boys into Cavaliers and Roundheads; how clay
was rolled out into cannon-balls and pistol-shots, sticks shaped into
swords, the playground disturbed to construct fortifications; how a
slovenly stout boy enacted Cromwell; how he himself was elevated into
Prince Rupert; and how, reversing all history, and infamously degrading
Cromwell, Rupert would not consent to be beaten; and Cromwell at the
last, disab