or them.'

'Work hard! why, sir, if I laboured from daylight to dark, I'd not earn the
wages of the humblest peasant, and I'd not know how to live on it.'

'Well, I have given you all the philosophy in my budget, and to tell you
the truth, Gorman, except so far as coming down in the world in spite of
myself, I know mighty little about the fine precepts I have been giving
you; but this I know, you have a roof over your head here, and you're
heartily welcome to it; and who knows but your aunt may come to terms all
the sooner, because she sees you here?'

'You are very generous to me, and I feel it deeply,' said the young man;
but he was almost choked with the words.

'You have told me already, Gorman, that your aunt gave you no other reason
against coming here than that I had not been to call on you; and I believe
you--believe you thoroughly; but tell me now, with the same frankness, was
there nothing passing in your mind--had you no suspicions or misgivings, or
something of the same kind, to keep you away? Be candid with me now, and
speak it out freely.'

'None, on my honour; I was sorely grieved to be told I must not come, and
thought very often of rebelling, so that indeed, when I did rebel, I was in
a measure prepared for the penalty, though scarcely so heavy as this.'

'Don't take it to heart. It will come right yet--everything comes right
if we give it time--and there's plenty of time to the fellow who is not
five-and-twenty. It's only the old dogs, like myself, who are always doing
their match against time, are in a hobble. To feel that every minute of the
clock is something very like three weeks of the almanac, flurries a man,
when he wants to be cool and collected. Put your hat on a peg, and make
your home here. If you want to be of use, Kitty will show you scores of
things to do about the garden, and we never object to see a brace of snipe
at the end of dinner, though there's nobody cares to shoot them; and the
bog trout--for all their dark colour--are excellent catch, and I know you
can throw a line. All I say is, do something, and something that takes you
into the open air. Don't get to lying about in easy-chairs and reading
novels; don't get to singing duets and philandering about with the girls.
May I never, if I'd not rather find a brandy-flask in your pocket than
Tennyson's poems!'

CHAPTER XLVII

REPROOF

'Say it out frankly, Kate,' cried Nina, as with flashing eyes and
heightened colour