attracted to the object in view. Nor would he press his wishes upon his
nephew as to next year. "Were I to ask it," he said, "and were he to
refuse me, I should be hurt. I am bound therefore to ask nothing that
is unreasonable." Lady Scroope did not quite agree with her husband
in this. She thought that as every thing was to be done for the young
man; as money almost without stint was to be placed at his command; as
hunting, parliament, and a house in London were offered to him;--as
the treatment due to a dear and only son was shown to him, he ought to
give something in return; but she herself, could say no more than she
had said, and she knew already that in those few matters in which her
husband had a decided will, he was not to be turned from it.

It was arranged, therefore, that Fred Neville should join his regiment
at Limerick in October, and that he should come home to Scroope for a
fortnight or three weeks at Christmas. Sophia Mellerby was to be Lady
Scroope's guest at that time, and at last it was decided that Mrs.
Neville, who had never been seen by the Earl, should be asked to
come and bring with her her younger son, John Neville, who had been
successful in obtaining a commission in the Engineers. Other guests
should be invited, and an attempt should be made to remove the mantle
of gloom from Scroope Manor,--with the sole object of ingratiating the
heir.

Early in October Fred went to Limerick, and from thence with a detached
troop of his regiment he was sent to the cavalry barracks at Ennis, the
assize town of the neighbouring County Clare. This was at first held to
be a misfortune by him, as Limerick is in all respects a better town
than Ennis, and in County Limerick the hunting is far from being bad,
whereas Clare is hardly a country for a Nimrod. But a young man, with
money at command, need not regard distances; and the Limerick balls and