him no troublesome tasks, imposed no actual
studies, but contented himself with a careful watch over the boy's
disposition, a gentle, scarce perceptible correction of his faults,
and an honest zeal to develop any generous trait in his nature, little
mindful of the disappointments his trustfulness must incur. Layton's
theory was that we all become wise too early in life, and that the
world's lessons should not be too soon implanted in a fresh unsuspecting
nature. His system was not destined to be sorely tested in the present
case. Harry Montserrat, Marquis of Agincourt, was a fortunate subject
to illustrate it by. There never was a less suspectful nature; he
was frank, generous, and brave; his faults were those of a hot, fiery
temper, and a disposition to resent, too early and too far, what with a
little patience he might have tolerated or even forgiven.

The fault, however, which Layton was more particularly guardful against,
was a certain over-consciousness of his station and its power, which
gradually began to show itself.

In his first experience of altered fortune he did nothing but regret the
past. It was no compensation to him for his careless sea-life, with all
its pleasant associations, to become of a sudden invested with station,
and treated with what he deemed over-deference. His reefer's jacket was
pleasanter "wear" than his padded frock-coat; the nimble boy who waited
on him in the gun-room he thought a far smarter attendant than his
obsequious valet; and, with all his midshipman's love of money-spending
and squandering, the charm of extravagance was gone when there were
no messmates to partake of it; nor did his well-groomed nag and his
well-dressed tiger suggest one-half the enjoyment he had often felt in a
pony ride over the cliffs of Malta, with some others of his mess, where
falls were rife and tumbles frequent. These, I say, were first thoughts,
but gradually others took their places. The enervation of a life of ease
began soon to show itself, and he felt the power of a certain station.
In the allowance his guardian made him, he had a far greater sum at his
disposal than he ever possessed before; and in the title of his rank he
soon discovered a magic that made the world beneath him very deferential
and very obliging.

"That boy has been very ill brought up, Mr. Layton; it will be your
chief care to instil into him proper notions of the place he is to
occupy one of these days," said an old Earl, one