ery fact
of his deigning to allude to the journey.

"Yes, I think I am rather wiser."

"Well, I'm glad of that. As you have lost a year in your profession,
it is well that you should have gained something. Has your accession
of wisdom been very extensive?"

"Somewhat short of Solomon's, sir; but probably quite as much as I
should have picked up had I remained in London."

"That is very probable. I suppose you have not the slightest idea how
much it cost you. Indeed, that would be a very vulgar way of looking
at it."

"Thanks to your unexpected kindness, I have not been driven to any
very close economy."

"Ah! that was Pritchett's doing. He seemed afraid that the land would
not flow with milk and honey unless your pocket was fairly provided.
But of course it's your own affair, George. It is money borrowed;
that's all."

George did not quite understand what this meant, and remained silent;
but at one moment it was almost on his tongue to say that it ought at
least to be admitted that the borrower had not been very pressing in
his application.

"And I suppose you have come back empty?" continued his uncle.

George then explained exactly how he stood with regard to money,
saying how he had put himself into the hands of Mr. Neversaye Die,
how he had taken chambers in the Middle Temple, and how a volume of
Blackstone was already lying open in his dingy sitting-room.

"Very well, very well. I have no objection whatever. You will perhaps
make nothing at the bar, and certainly never the half what you would
have done with Messrs. Dry and Stickatit. But that's your affair. The
bar is thoroughly respectable. By-the-by, is your father satisfied
with it as a profession?" This was the first allusion that Mr.
Bertram had made to his brother.

"Perfectly so," said George.

"Because of course you were bound to consult him." If this was
intended for irony, it was so well masked that George was not able to
be sure of it.

"I did consult him, sir," said George, turning red in accordance with
that inveterate and stupid habit of his.

"That was right. And did you consult him about another thing? did you
ask him what you were to live on till such time as you could earn
your own bread?"

In answer to this, George was obliged to own that he did not. "There
was no necessity," said he, "for he knows that I have my fellowship."

"Oh! ah! yes; and that of course relieves him of any further cause
for anxiety in the matter. I fo