the least uneasiness. He had squandered such large sums of money at the
gambling-houses in Paris, that he dared not show his face at the Hall
until the storm was blown over; and to such a thoughtless, extravagant
being as Alfred Hurdlestone, "sufficient to the day was the evil
thereof."

Without any strikingly vicious propensities, it was impossible for
Algernon Hurdlestone to escape from the contaminating influence of his
uncle, to whom he was strongly attached, without pollution. He imbibed
from him a relish for trifling amusements and extravagant expenditure,
which clung to him through life. The sudden death of his misjudging
instructor recalled him to a painful sense of past indiscretions. He
determined to amend his ways, and make choice of some profession, and
employ his time in a more honorable manner for the future. These serious
impressions scarcely survived the funeral of the thoughtless man whose
death he sincerely lamented; but the many debts his uncle had
contracted, and the exhausted state of his purse, urged upon him the
imperative necessity of returning to England; and the voyage was
undertaken accordingly.




CHAPTER II.

The steel strikes fire from the unyielding flint:
So love has struck from out that flinty heart
The electric spark, which all but deifies
The human clay.--S.M.