ve they shall! Dearest of men, I dare
say you think me mad. I am mad with joy. How that Virginian creeper has
grown! I have brought you so many plants, my father! a complete Sicilian
Hortus Siccus. Ah, John, good John, how is your wife? Take care of my
pistol-case. Ask Louis; he knows all about everything. Well, dear
Glastonbury, and how have you been? How is the old tower? How are the
old books, and the old staff, and the old arms, and the old everything?
Dear, dear Glastonbury!'

While the carriage was unpacking, and the dinner-table prepared, the
friends walked in the garden, and from thence strolled towards the
tower, where they remained some time pacing up and down the beechen
avenue. It was evident, on their return, that Ferdinand had communicated
his great intelligence. The countenance of Glastonbury was radiant with
delight.

Indeed, although he had dined, he accepted with readiness Ferdinand's
invitation to repeat the ceremony; nay, he quaffed more than one glass
of wine; and, I believe, even drank the health of every member of
the united families of Armine and Grandison. It was late before the
companions parted, and retired for the night; and I think, before
they bade each other good night, they must have talked over every
circumstance that had occurred in their experience since the birth of
Ferdinand.

CHAPTER IV.

_In Which Some Light Is Thrown on the Title of This Work_.

HOW delicious after a long absence to wake on a sunny morning and find
ourselves at home! Ferdinand could scarcely credit that he was really
again at Armine. He started up in his bed, and rubbed his eyes and
stared at the unaccustomed, yet familiar sights, and for a moment Malta
and the Royal Fusiliers, Bath and his betrothed, were all a dream; and
then he remembered the visit of his dear mother to this very room on the
eve of his first departure. He had returned; in safety had he returned,
and in happiness, to accomplish all her hopes and to reward her for all
her solicitude. Never felt anyone more content than Ferdinand Armine,
more content and more grateful.

He rose and opened the casement; a rich and exhilarating perfume filled
the chamber; he looked with a feeling of delight and pride over the
broad and beautiful park; the tall trees rising and flinging their
taller shadows over the bright and dewy turf, and the last mists
clearing away from the distant woods and blending with the spotless sky.
Everything was sweet