ever can understand how going
to Paris and Rome, which young men always mean when they talk of
travelling, can be profitable to him; it is the very thing which, all my
life, I have been endeavouring to prevent. His body and his soul will be
both imperilled; Paris will destroy his constitution, and Rome, perhaps,
change his faith.'

'I have more confidence in his physical power and his religious
principle than you, Kate,' said the duke, smiling. 'But make yourself
easy on these heads; Tancred told me this morning that he had no wish to
visit either Rome or Paris.'

'Well!' exclaimed the duchess, somewhat relieved, 'if he wants to make
a little tour in Holland, I think I could bear it; it is a Protestant
country, and there are no vermin. And then those dear Disbrowes, I am
sure, would take care of him at The Hague.'

'We will talk of all this to-night, my love,' said the duke; and
offering his arm to his wife, who was more composed, if not more
cheerful, they descended to their guests.

Colonel Brace was there, to the duke's great satisfaction. The colonel
had served as a cornet in a dragoon regiment in the last campaign of
the Peninsular war, and had marched into Paris. Such an event makes an
indelible impression on the memory of a handsome lad of seventeen, and
the colonel had not yet finished recounting his strange and fortunate
adventures.

He was tall, robust, a little portly, but, well buckled, still presented
a grand military figure. He was what you call a fine man; florid, with
still a good head of hair though touched with grey, splendid moustaches,
large fat hands, and a courtly demeanour not unmixed with a slight
swagger. The colonel was a Montacute man, and had inherited a large
house in the town and a small estate in the neighbourhood. Having
sold out, he had retired to his native place, where he had become a
considerable personage. The duke had put him in the commission, and
he was the active magistrate of the district; he had reorganised the
Bellamont regiment of yeomanry cavalry, which had fallen into sad
decay during the late duke's time, but which now, with Brace for its
lieutenant-colonel, was second to none in the kingdom. Colonel Brace was
one of the best shots in the county; certainly the boldest rider among
the heavy weights; and bore the palm from all with the rod, in a county
famous for its feats in lake and river.

The colonel was a man of great energy, of good temper, of ready
resource, f