ill
always be used in the same spirit."

Bob's last two evenings before sailing were more pleasant than he
had expected. Mr. Bale seemed to forget that he was still in
Philpot Lane, and chatted with him freely and confidentially.

"I hope that I am doing the best for you, Bob. I know this is an
experiment, and I can only trust that it will turn out well. I
believe you have plenty of sound sense, somewhere in your head; and
that this association with a number of young military men will not
have any bad effect upon you; but that, after four or five years
abroad, you will not be less, but rather more inclined to settle
down to business. I regard you as my son, and have indeed no
relations whom I care for in any way, except you and your sister. I
trust that, when you come back, you will apply yourself to
business; without becoming, as I have done, a slave to it.

"I might, if I chose, make you altogether independent of it; but I
am sure that would not be for your good. There is nothing more
unfortunate for a young man, belonging to the middle classes, than
to have no fixed occupation. The heir to large estates is in a
different position. He has all sorts of responsibilities. He has
the pursuits of a country gentleman, and the duties of a large
landowner. But the young man of our class, who does not take to
business, is almost certain to go in for reckless dissipation, or
gambling. I have seen numbers of young men, sons of old friends of
my own, who have been absolutely ruined by being left the fortunes
their fathers had made, simply because they had nothing with which
to occupy their minds.

"It is for this reason, Bob, that I chiefly wish you to succeed me
in my business. It is a very good one. I doubt whether any other
merchant imports such large quantities of wines as I do. During the
next few years I shall endeavour to give up, as far as I can, what
I may call private business, and deal entirely with the trade. I
have been doing so for some time, but it is very difficult to give
up customers who have dealt with me, and my father before me.
However, I shall curtail the business in that direction, as much as
I can; and you will then find it much more easily managed. Small
orders require just as much trouble in their execution as large
ones; and a wholesale business is, in all respects, more
satisfactory than one in which private customers are supplied, as
well as the trade.

"I am entering into arrangements, now,