uble, that I am thankful beyond
expression to know that in this instance it has done some good for a
change. Thank you, my boy, for giving me the satisfaction of knowing as
much. I know it is hard for you young fellows to speak out. You might
easily have kept it to yourself, and left me a poorer man.

No! Since you ask my opinion, I'm convinced that it would be a thousand
pities to drop any of your athletic interests. I'd rather advise you to
put more grist into them, and come to the front as much as possible;
short, of course, of interfering with your studies. When you have a
parish of your own, or assist another man in his parish, you will have a
big work to do among the boys and young men, and how do you think it
will affect _them_ to hear that you have pulled stroke in your boat, or
played for the 'Varsity in football or cricket? Will they think less of
you, or more? If I know masculine nature, it will give you an immediate
influence which scarcely anything else could command. They will know
you for a man, and a manly man into the bargain, a man who has like
interests with themselves, and is not merely a puppet stuck up in the
pulpit to babble platitudes, as so many fellows do nowadays--more shame
to them! Play with the young fellows on Saturday;--let them feel that
you understand and enter into their interests, and my name's not Terence
Digby if your serious words don't have a tenfold influence on Sunday.

We must have a good talk on this subject when you come home. It is one
on which I feel very strongly. Let me know at any time if you want help
as to books, or any other expenses. Your father has enough to do with
the rest of the family, and it is a pleasure to me to pretend now and
again that you belong to me.

All goes well at Brompton Square. Your mother wears well--a wonderful
woman! None of her daughters will ever equal her, though Betty is twice
the girl she used to be, and Mademoiselle Jill makes havoc among the
young fellows. My dear wife looks after me so carefully that my gout is
steadily on the decline, and I grow younger year by year. Get the right
woman for your wife, young fellow! I waited twenty years for mine, and
she's cheap at the price.--Your friend, Terence Digby.

_Christabel Rendell to her sister Nan Vanburgh_.

Dearest Mops,--I am in a state of abject collapse after rushing after
the beagles yesterday, tearing all over the countryside, and leaping
wildly over mountainou