aged to Quarrier."

"All right!" said the latter. "To-morrow, then?"

"Yes, I will dine to-morrow."

Mr. Stark jumped up.

"Think of it. I can't talk longer now; there's the voice of a client
I'm expecting. Eight sharp tomorrow!"

Glazzard took his leave.

CHAPTER III

Like so many other gentlemen whose function in the world remains
indefinite, chiefly because of the patrimony they have inherited,
Denzil Quarrier had eaten his dinners, and been called to the Bar; he
went so far in specification as to style himself Equity barrister. But
the Courts had never heard his voice. Having begun the studies, he
carried them through just for consistency, but long before bowing to
the Benchers of his Inn he foresaw that nothing practical would come of
it. This was his second futile attempt to class himself with a
recognized order of society. Nay, strictly speaking, the third. The
close of his thirteenth year had seen him a pupil at Polterham Grammar
School; not an unpromising pupil by any means, but with a turn for
insubordination, much disposed to pursue with zeal anything save the
tasks that were set him. Inspired by Cooper and Captain Marryat, he
came to the conclusion that his destiny was the Navy, and stuck so
firmly to it that his father, who happened to have a friend on the
Board of Admiralty, procured him a nomination, and speedily saw the boy
a cadet on the "Britannia." Denzil wore Her Majesty's uniform for some
five years; then he tired of the service and went back to Polterham to
reconsider his bent and aptitudes.

His father no longer dwelt in the old home, but had recently gone over
to Norway, where he pursued his calling of timber-merchant. Denzil's
uncle--Samuel Quarrier--busied in establishing a sugar-refinery in his
native town, received the young man with amiable welcome, and
entertained him for half a year. The ex-seaman then resolved to join
his parents abroad, as a good way of looking about him. He found his
mother on her death-bed. In consequence of her decease, Denzil became
possessed of means amply sufficient for a bachelor. As far as ever from
really knowing what he desired to be at, he began to make a show of
interesting himself in timber. Perhaps, after all, commerce was his
_forte_. This, then, might be called a second endeavour to establish
himself.

Mr. Quarrier laughed at the idea, and would not take it seriously. And
of course was in the right, for Denzil, on pretence of studying