ly
as regarded money; time was of greater consideration with him. "But it's
no use thinking of such a thing. The old folks are much too content with
home; they won't travel. And Francie--she wouldn't come away from those
precious babes. Well, I'm off. Mind you scold Francie for me!"

"Perhaps," said Mangan, as he accompanied his friend to the door.

So it was that on a certain evening in August, Lionel Moore drove up to
Euston Station and secured a sleeping-berth in the train going north;
and no doubt the consciousness that after a long spell of hard work he
was entering upon a well-earned holiday was a very welcome and
comfortable thing. If only he had been a little more reflective, he
might have set to work (here in the railway-carriage, as he lit his
cigar, and proceeded to fix up his reading-lamp) and gone on to consider
how entirely satisfactory all his circumstances were at this moment.
Prince Fortunatus, indeed! Was ever any one more happily situated? Here
he was, young, full of health and high spirits, excellent-tempered, and
sufficiently good-looking; he had acquired a liberal measure of fame and
popularity; he had many friends; he had ample means, for he did not know
the difference between a backer and a layer, nor yet the difference
between a broker and a jobber--in fact, gambling, either in stocks or on
the turf, had never even occurred to him as a thing worth thinking
about. But there was something further than all this for which he ought
to have been profoundly grateful. As the long train thundered away into
the night, there was no dull misery of farewell weighing heavily upon
him; there were no longing fancies wandering wistfully back to a certain
house, a certain figure, a pair of too-eloquent eyes. He dragged no
lengthening chain with him on this journey north. For, notwithstanding
his pleasant companionship with Nina, and her constant sympathy with him
and her interest in his professional career; notwithstanding the
affectionate regard of his cousin Francie, which was none the less
sincere that it remained unspoken and only to be guessed at;
notwithstanding the somewhat jealous favor which the prima-donna of the
New Theatre seemed inclined to bestow on him; notwithstanding the pert
coquetries and fascinations of Miss Georgie Lestrange, to say nothing of
the blandishments and pettings showered upon him by crowds of ladies of
exalted rank, this fortunate young man (so far at least as he was
himself awar