a few days was dangerously ill, but is now slowly recovering."

"Very sorry to hear of it. A man of his stamp would have been of immense
value to the country. He had begun to take a very leading part in local
matters. I trust he will come round."

"I fear he will never be the same again. I doubt if he will be able to
direct his own affairs as he used."

"That's bad! You are not in the business, I believe?"

"No; I never took any part in it. I almost regret I did not. It would, I
imagine, be a relief to my father, now that his mind is less clear, to
know that I was at the helm. But we have a capital man as manager, quite
devoted to the house. I shall get my father down to the country as soon
as I can, and I trust he'll come round."

"No doubt he will. He was wonderfully hale and strong for his years."

"Ay! how d'ye do, Bertie?" interrupted the first speaker, holding out
his hand to a young man who came up from Hyde Park and seemed about to
pass with a smile and a nod. "Who would have thought of meeting you in
these godless regions? I hear you are busy 'slumming' from morning till
night."

"Well, Colonel," returned Bertie--a slight, fair, boyish-looking man--"I
am so far false to my new vocation as to have lost some irrevocable
moments looking at the horses and horsewomen in the Row."

"Aha! the old leaven, my dear boy! You are on the brink of