gs between
his sister and her lover. Stent soon had to go to sea, but suggested an
ingenious arrangement for the future. A lovely girl, spoken of as Maria,
was known to both the Stents and passionately admired by the sailor. She
lived in a boarding-house, and Stent proposed that Stephen should lodge
in the same house, where he would be able both to see Anne Stent and to
plead his friend's cause with Maria. This judicious scheme led to
difficulties. When, after a time, Stephen began to speak to Maria on
behalf of Stent, the lady at last hinted that she had another
attachment, and, on further pressure, it appeared that the object of the
attachment was Stephen himself. He was not insensible, as he then
discovered, to Maria's charms. 'I have been told,' he says, 'that no man
can love two women at once; but I am confident that this is an error.'

The problem, however, remained as to the application of this principle
to practice. The first consequence was a breach with the old love. Miss
Stent and her lover were parted. Maria, however, was still under age,
and Stephen was under the erroneous impression that a marriage with her
would be illegal without the consent of her guardians, which was out of
the question. While things were in this state, Thomas Stent came back
from a cruise covered with glory. He hastened at once from Portsmouth to
his father, and persuaded the delighted old gentleman to restore his
daughter to her home and to receive James Stephen to the house as her
acknowledged suitor. He then sent news of his achievement to his friend;
and an interview became necessary, to which James Stephen repaired about
as cheerfully, he says, as he would have gone to Tyburn tree. He had to
confess that he had broken off the engagement to his friend's sister
because he had transferred his affections to his friend's mistress.
Stent must have been a magnanimous man. He replied, after reflection,
that the news would break his father's heart. The arrangement he had
made must be ostensibly carried out. Stephen must come to the elder
Stent's house and meet the daughter on apparently cordial terms. Young
Stent's friendship was at an end; but Stephen felt bound to adopt the
prescribed plan.

Meanwhile Stephen's finances were at a low ebb. His uncle, Milner, had
heard a false report, that the nephew had misrepresented the amount of
his father's debts. He declined to pay the promised allowance, and
Stephen felt the insult so bitterly tha