urneying the same
road, with different burdens, perhaps, but with the same goal. For
myself, therefore, I have few cares. It remains with you to make them
even fewer."

"Tell me what you propose for me, sir," said George, in a low, weak
voice.

"First of all, George, you ought to leave the army. Grounsell, I must
tell you, is not of this opinion; he advises an exchange into a regiment
in India, but I think differently. To repair, if it be possible, the
shattered wreck of our fortunes, you must address yourself to business
life and habits. You 'll have to visit the West Indies, and, probably,
the East. We still possess property in Ceylon, of value; and our coffee
plantations there, as yet only in their infancy, need nothing but good
management to ensure success. Grounsell laughed at my suggesting you for
such duties, but I know you better, George, far better, than he does.
The English pluck that storms a breach or heads a charge is the very
same quality that sustains a man on the long dark road of adverse
fortune. I have often told Grounsell that the stuff was in you, George."

The young man squeezed his father's hand, but was obliged to turn away
his head to hide the tears which filled his eyes; for what a terrible
deception was he practising at that very moment, and what duplicity was
there even in the silence with which he heard him!

For a few seconds Sir Stafford seemed to revel in all the bright visions
of a warm fancy. The prospect his imagination had conjured up appeared
to have momentarily lifted him above the reach of sorrow. He thought of
his son engaged in the active business of life, and displaying in this
new career the energies and resources of a bold and courageous spirit.
He imagined the high-principled youth becoming the British merchant, and
making the name of "Onslow" great and respected in the old arena of all
their victories, the city of London. Could this but come to pass, were
this dream to be realized, and he would bless the hour that wrecked his
fortune, and thus made his poverty the foundation of future greatness.

"I confess, George," said he, "that I have a pride in thinking that I
knew you better than others did, and that I read in the very wayward
caprices of your disposition the impatience of an active mind, and not
the ennui of an indolent one." From this the old man branched off into
his plans for the future; and, as if the emergency had suggested energy,
talked well and clearly of