he could
not find his books; they were gone--lost--no, not lost, he suddenly
remembered that he had sold them--sold them to send a pittance to his
poor sick mother. "It's a sad story, every part of it," whispered he in
Quackinboss's ear, while he clutched him closely with his hands. "It
was a great man was lost, mark you; and in a great shipwreck even the
fragments of the wreck work sad destruction, and, of course, none will
say a word for him. But remember, sir, I am his son, and will not hear
a syllable against him, from you nor any other." From this he abruptly
broke off to speak of O'Shea, and his late altercation with him. "I
waited at home all the morning for him, and at last got a note to say
that he had forgotten to tell me of an appointment he had made to ride
out with Miss Leslie, but he 'll be punctual to the hour to-morrow. So
it's better as it is, Colonel, for you 'll be here, and can act as my
friend,--won't you? Your countrymen understand all these sort of things
so well. And then, if I be called away suddenly to England, don't
tell them," whispered he, mysteriously,--"don't tell them at the villa
whither I 've gone. They know nothing of me nor of my family; never
heard of my ruined father, nor my poor, sick, destitute mother, dying
of actual want,--think of that,--while I was playing the man of fortune
here, affecting every extravagance,--yes, it was you yourself said so;
I overheard you in the garden, asking why or how was it, with such ample
means, I would become a tutor."

It was not alone that these words were uttered in a calm and collected
tone, but they actually recalled to the American a remark he had once
made about Layton. "Well," said he, as if some apology was called for,
"it warn't any business of mine, but I was sorry to see it."

"But you didn't know--you couldn't know," cried the other, eagerly,
"that I had no choice; my health was breaking. I had overworked my head;
I could n't go on. Have you ever tried what it is to read ten hours a
day? Answer me that."

"No; but I've been afoot sixteen out of the twenty-four for weeks
together, on an Indian trail; and that's considerable worse, I take it."

"Who cares for mere fatigue of body?" said Layton, contemptuously.

"And who says it's mere fatigue of body?" rejoined the other, "when
every sense a man has is strained and stretched to breakin', his ear to
the earth, and his eyes rangin' over the swell of the prairies, till
his brain aches