involved a worse evil, or a more fatal
error! No--I must not dream now of turning aside from the path that has
been chosen for me. Too much time and too much money have been given to
the thing for that;--I must let it take its course. There's no help
for it!"

"But, confound it, lad! you'd better follow the fife and drum, or go
before the mast, than give up your life to a profession you hate!"

"Hate is a strong word," I replied. "I do not actually hate it--at all
events I must try to make the best of it, if only for my father's sake.
His heart is set on making a physician of me, and I dare not
disappoint him."

Dalrymple looked at me fixedly, and then fell back into his old
position.

"Heigho!" he said, pulling his hat once more over his eyes, "I was a
disobedient son. My father intended me for the Church; I was expelled
from College for fighting a duel before I was twenty, and then, sooner
than go home disgraced, enlisted as a private soldier in a cavalry corps
bound for foreign service. Luckily, they found me out before the ship
sailed, and made the best of a bad bargain by purchasing me a cornetcy
in a dragoon regiment. I would not advise you to be disobedient, Damon.
My experience in that line has been bitter enough,"

"How so? You escaped a profession for which you were disinclined, and
entered one for which you had every qualification."

"Ay; but think of the cursed _esclandre_--first the duel, then the
expulsion, then my disappearance for two months ... My mother was in bad
health at the time, too; and I, her favorite son--I--in short, the
anxiety was too much for her. She--she died before I had been six weeks
in the regiment. There! we won't talk of it. It's the one subject
that ..."

His voice faltered, and he broke off abruptly.

"I wish you were going with me to Berlin," said he, after a long silence
which I had not attempted to interrupt.

"I wish with all my heart that I were!"

"And yet," he added, "I am glad on--on her account, that you remain in
Paris. You will call upon her sometimes, Arbuthnot?"

"If Madame De Cour.... I mean, if Mrs. Dalrymple will permit me."

An involuntary smile flitted across his lips--the first I had seen there
all the day.

"She will be glad--grateful. She knows that I value you, and she has
proof that I trust you. You are the only possessor of our secret."

"It is as safe with me," I said, "as if I were dead, and in my grave."

"I know it, old fellow. Well-