ook what
those fellows the grocers, do when they get hold of a young--what d'ye
call 'em?--apprentice. They know the scoundrel was born with a sweet
tooth. Well! they give him the run of the shop, and in a very short time
he soberly deals out the goods, a devilish deal too wise to abstract
a morsel even for the pleasure of stealing. I know you have contrary
theories. You hold that the young grocer should have a soul above sugar.
It won't do! Take my word for it, Feverel, it's a dangerous experiment,
that of bringing up flesh and blood in harness. No colt will bear it,
or he's a tame beast. And look you: take it on medical grounds. Early
excesses the frame will recover from: late ones break the constitution.
There's the case in a nutshell. How's your son?"

"Sound and well!" replied Sir Austin. "And yours?"

"Oh, Lipscombe's always the same!" Lord Heddon sighed peevishly. "He's
quiet--that's one good thing; but there's no getting the country to take
him, so I must give up hopes of that."

Lord Lipscombe entering the room just then, Sir Austin surveyed him, and
was not astonished at the refusal of the country to take him.

"Wild oats!" he thought, as he contemplated the headless, degenerate,
weedy issue and result.

Both Darley Absworthy and Lord Heddon spoke of the marriage of their
offspring as a matter of course. "And if I were not a coward," Sir
Austin confessed to himself, "I should stand forth and forbid the
banns! This universal ignorance of the inevitable consequence of sin is
frightful! The wild oats plea is a torpedo that seems to have struck the
world, and rendered it morally insensible." However, they silenced him.
He was obliged to spare their feelings on a subject to him so deeply
sacred. The healthful image of his noble boy rose before him, a
triumphant living rejoinder to any hostile argument.

He was content to remark to his doctor, that he thought the third
generation of wild oats would be a pretty thin crop!

Families against whom neither Thompson lawyer nor Bairam physician could
recollect a progenitorial blot, either on the male or female side,
were not numerous. "Only," said the doctors "you really must not be too
exacting in these days, my dear Sir Austin. It is impossible to contest
your principle, and you are doing mankind incalculable service in
calling its attention to this the gravest of its duties: but as the
stream of civilization progresses we must be a little taken in the lump,
as i