exercise make the ills of life look marvellously smaller. You have
the frame of a strong and active man; and all you want to make you
light-hearted and cheerful, is to develop what nature has given you."

"It is too late," said Elsley, pleased, as most men are, by being told
that they might be strong and active.

"Not in the least. Three months would strengthen your muscles, open
your chest again, settle your digestion, and make you as fresh as a
lark, and able to sing like one. Believe me, the poetry would be the
better for it, as well as the stomach. Now, positively, I shall begin
questioning you."

So Elsley was won to detail the symptoms of internal _malaise_, which
he was only too much in the habit of watching himself; but there were
some among them which Tom could not quite account for on the ground of
mere effeminate habits. A thought struck him.

"You sleep ill, I suppose?" said he carelessly.

"Very ill."

"Did you ever try opiates?"

"No--yes--that is, sometimes."

"Ah!" said Tom, more carelessly still, for he wished to hide, by all
means, the importance of the confession. "Well, they give relief for a
time: but they are dangerous things--disorder the digestion, and have
their revenge on the nerves next morning, as spitefully as brandy
itself. Much better try a glass of strong ale or porter just before
going to bed. I've known it give sleep, even in consumption--try it,
and exercise. You shoot?"

"No."

"Pity; there ought to be noble cocking in these woods. However, the
season's past. You fish?"

"No."

"Pity again. I hear Alva is full of trout. Why not try sailing?
Nothing oxygenates the lungs like a sail, and your friends the
fishermen would be delighted to have you as super-cargo. They are
always full of your stories to them, and your picking their brains for
old legends and adventures."

"They are noble fellows, and I want no better company; but,
unfortunately, I am always sea-sick."

"Ah! wholesome, but unpleasant: you are fond of gardening?"

"Very; but stooping makes my head swim."

"True, and I don't want you to stoop. I hope to see you soon as erect
as a Guardsman. Why not try walks?"

"Abominable bores--lonely, aimless--"

"Well, perhaps you're right. I never knew but three men who took long
constitutionals on principle, and two of them were cracked. But why
not try a companion; and persuade that curate, who needs just the same
medicine as you, to accompany you? I don't know