late war or in trade. The
former were called _Sixties_, the latter were the _Forties_."

Now Julia and I belonged emphatically to the Sixties. We had never been
debased by trade, and a _mesalliance_ was not known in our family. To be
sure, my father had lost a fortune instead of making one in any way; but
that did not alter his position or mine. We belonged to the aristocracy
of Guernsey, and _noblesse oblige_. As for my marriage with Julia, it
was so much the more interesting as the number of marriageable men was
extremely limited; and she was considered favored indeed by Fate, which
had provided for her a cousin willing to settle down for life in the
island.

Still more greetings, more inquiries, more jokes, as I wended my way
homeward. I had become very weary of them before I turned into our own
drive. My father was just starting off on horseback. He looked
exceedingly well on horseback, being a very handsome man, and in
excellent preservation. His hair, as white as snow, was thick and well
curled, and his face almost without a wrinkle. He had married young, and
was not more than twenty-five years older than myself. He stopped, and
extended two fingers to me.

"So you are back, Martin?" he said. "It has been a confounded nuisance,
you being out of the way; and such weather for a man of my years! I had
to ride out three miles to lance a baby's gums, confound it! in all that
storm on Tuesday. Mrs. Durande has been very ill too; all your patients
have been troublesome. But it must have been awfully dull work for you
out yonder. What did you do with yourself, eh? Make love to some of the
pretty Sark girls behind Julia's back, eh?"

My father kept himself young, as he was very fond of stating; his style
of conversation was eminently so. It jarred upon my ears more than ever
after Tardif's grave and solemn words, and often deep thoughts. I was on
the point of answering sharply, but I checked myself.

"The weather has been awful," I said. "How did my mother bear it?"

"She has been like an old hen clucking after her duckling in the water,"
he replied. "She has been fretting and fuming after you all the week. If
it had been me out in Sark, she would have slept soundly and ate
heartily; as it was you, she has neither slept nor ate. You are quite an
old woman's pet, Martin. As for me, there is no love lost between old
women and me."

"Good-morning, sir," I said, turning away, and hurrying on to the house.
I heard him