ponsibilities of wealth."

"How could she talk to you in that way?"

"She did--really."

"Then Caroline is out of reckoning."

"Between ourselves, I think she was right, Elizabeth. I am positive I
should spend any sum of money. What I need is a wife who can make
money week by week, year by year--always something coming in; like an
opera-singer, for instance. Do you understand?"

"Could you expect me to understand such nonsense? I asked Robert
to-day about poor father's estate. He thinks there may be four or five
hundred pounds after paying all debts. Of course you will receive it
all. Robert is very kind, but I can see that he would prefer that you
were not always at the Court."

"I daresay he put Caroline up to refuse me."

"I have no doubt of it. He would consider it a brotherly duty; and to
tell the truth, Roland, I fear you would give any woman lots of
heartache. I cannot tell what must be done. You have had so many good
business chances, and yet never made anything of them."

"That is true, Elizabeth. If I take to a business, it fails. If I
dream of some fine prospect, the dream does not come true. In fact, my
dear sister,

"'I never had a piece of toast
Particularly long and wide,
But it fell on the sanded floor,
And always on the buttered side.'

Still, there is one thing I can do when all else fails: I can take the
Queen's shilling and go in for glory."

"Roland, you break my heart with your folly. Why will you not be
reasonable? How could I ever show my face if you were a common
soldier? But the army is a good thought. Suppose you do try the army.
I daresay Robert can get you a commission--at the right time, of
course."

"Thanks! I do not think the army would agree with me; not, at any
rate, until I had played my last card. And if I have to make a hero of
myself, I shall certainly prefer the position of a full private. It is
the privates that do the glory business. I would join the army as
Private Smith; for though

"'Some talk of Alexander,
And some of Hercules,
And of many a great commander
As glorious as these;
If you want to know a hero
Of genuine pluck and pith,
It's perfectly clear that none come near
The full British private Smith.'"

And he declaimed his mock heroics so delightfully that Elizabeth not
only succumbed to his charm, but also wondered in her heart why
everyone else did not.

"You see, sweet sister, that wealth is not exactly the