t
of his allowance.' 'Of course he can't,' said I. 'You had better put
three hundred pounds to his credit,' said the old gentleman; and so,
Mr. George, I have."

"I could have done very well without it, Mr. Pritchett."

"Perhaps so; but three hundred pounds never hurt anybody--never, Mr.
George; and I can tell you this: if you play your cards well, you
may be the old gentleman's heir, in spite of all he says to the
contrary."

"At any rate, Mr. Pritchett, I'm very much obliged to you:" and so
they parted.

"He'll throw that three hundred pounds in my teeth the next time I
see him," said George to himself.

Good as Mr. Pritchett's advice undoubtedly was, Bertram did not take
it; and his uncle received no line from him during the whole period
of his absence. Our hero's search after his father was not quite of
so intricate a nature as was supposed by his uncle, nor so difficult
as that made by Japhet under similar circumstances. His route was to
be by Paris, Marseilles, Malta, Alexandria, Jaffa, Jerusalem, and
Damascus, and he had written to Sir Lionel, requesting him to write
to either or all of those addresses. Neither in France, nor Malta,
nor Egypt did he receive any letters; but in the little town of
Jaffa, where he first put his foot on Asiatic soil, a despatch from
his father was awaiting him. Sir Lionel was about to leave Persia,
and was proceeding to Constantinople on public service; but he would
go out of his course to meet his son at Jerusalem.

The tone of Sir Lionel's letter was very unlike that of Mr. Bertram's
conversation. He heartily congratulated his son on the splendid
success of his degree; predicted for him a future career both
brilliant and rich; declared that it was the dearest wish of his
heart to embrace his son, and spoke of their spending a few weeks
together at Jerusalem almost with rapture.

This letter very much delighted George. He had a natural anxiety to
think well of his father, and had not altogether believed the evil
that had been rather hinted than spoken of him by Mr. Bertram. The
colonel had certainly not hitherto paid him very much parental
attention, and had generally omitted to answer the few letters
which George had written to him. But a son is not ill inclined to
accept acts of new grace from a father; and there was something so
delightful in the tone and manner of Sir Lionel's letter, it was so
friendly as well as affectionate, so perfectly devoid of the dull,
monoton