ad this conversation, Ned, unpromising as it was. It establishes
a confidence between us which is quite delightful, and was certainly
necessary, though how you can ever have mistaken our positions and
designs, I confess I cannot understand. I conceived, until I found your
fancy for this girl, that all these points were tacitly agreed upon
between us.'

'I knew you were embarrassed, sir,' returned the son, raising his head
for a moment, and then falling into his former attitude, 'but I had no
idea we were the beggared wretches you describe. How could I suppose it,
bred as I have been; witnessing the life you have always led; and the
appearance you have always made?'

'My dear child,' said the father--'for you really talk so like a child
that I must call you one--you were bred upon a careful principle;
the very manner of your education, I assure you, maintained my credit
surprisingly. As to the life I lead, I must lead it, Ned. I must have
these little refinements about me. I have always been used to them, and
I cannot exist without them. They must surround me, you observe, and
therefore they are here. With regard to our circumstances, Ned, you
may set your mind at rest upon that score. They are desperate. Your own
appearance is by no means despicable, and our joint pocket-money alone
devours our income. That's the truth.'

'Why have I never known this before? Why have you encouraged me, sir, to
an expenditure and mode of life to which we have no right or title?'

'My good fellow,' returned his father more compassionately than ever,
'if you made no appearance, how could you possibly succeed in the
pursuit for which I destined you? As to our mode of life, every man
has a right to live in the best way he can; and to make himself as
comfortable as he can, or he is an unnatural scoundrel. Our debts, I
grant, are very great, and therefore it the more behoves you, as a young
man of principle and honour, to pay them off as speedily as possible.'

'The villain's part,' muttered Edward, 'that I have unconsciously
played! I to win the heart of Emma Haredale! I would, for her sake, I
had died first!'

'I am glad you see, Ned,' returned his father, 'how perfectly
self-evident it is, that nothing can be done in that quarter. But apart
from this, and the necessity of your speedily bestowing yourself on
another (as you know you could to-morrow, if you chose), I wish you'd
look upon it pleasantly. In a religious point of view alone