ound there were
three letters for him. He tore open that from his mother. It began by
gently upbraiding him for getting himself mixed up in the fight between
the smugglers and the revenue men.

"In the next place, my dear boy," she said, "I must scold you, even
more, for not confiding in your mother as to your wishes about your
future profession. Mr. Wilks has opened my eyes to the fact that, while
I have all along been taking it for granted, that your wishes agreed
with mine as to your profession, you have really been sacrificing all
your own inclinations in order to avoid giving me pain. I am very
thankful to him for having opened my eyes, for I should have been
grieved indeed had I found, when too late, that I had chained you down
to a profession you dislike.

"Of course, I should have liked to have had you with me, but in no case
would have had you sacrifice yourself; still less now, when I have met
with such kind friends, and am happy and comfortable in my life.
Therefore, my boy, let us set aside at once all idea of your becoming a
doctor. There is no occasion for you to choose, immediately, what you
will do. You are too old now to enter the royal navy, and it is well
that, before you finally decide on a profession, you have the
opportunity of seeing something of the world.

"I inclose bank notes for a hundred pounds so that, if you like, you
can stay for a few weeks or months in the colonies, and then take your
passage home from New York or Boston. By that time, too, all talk about
this affair with the smugglers will have ceased; but, as your name is
likely to come out at the trial of the men who were taken, so the
squire thinks it will be better for you to keep away, for a time."

The rest of the letter was filled up with an account of the excitement
and alarm which had been felt when he was first missed.

"We were glad, indeed," she said, "when a letter was received from
Richard Horton, saying that you were on board the Thetis. Mr. Wilks
tells me it was an abominably spiteful letter, and I am sure the squire
thinks so, too, from the tone in which he spoke this afternoon about
his nephew; but I can quite forgive him, for, if it had not been for
his letter, we should not have known what had become of you, and many
months might have passed before we might have heard from you in
America. As it is, only four or five days have been lost, and the
squire is writing tonight to obtain your discharge, which he assure