dreadfully shocked at it, and Lady Jane in despair: the one about his
gambling propensities, and the other about his nose; she thought, if the
injury did not prove fatal, he would be disfigured for life.

He was well in a week, but the circumstances had the gravest
consequences. It was decided that something must be done with the heir
of the Luscombes to wean him from low company (this was not me, but
grooms and racing people); but even this predilection was ascribed in
part to his fragile constitution. A fashionable physician came down from
London to consider the case. He could not quite be brought to the point
desired by Lady Jane, to lay Richard's love of gambling at the door of
the delicacy of his lungs; but he was brought very near it. The young
fellow, his "opinion" was, had been brought up too much like a hothouse
flower; his tastes were what they were chiefly because he had no
opportunities of forming better ones; with improved strength his moral
nature would become more elevated. That he was truthful was a great
source of satisfaction (this was with reference to his distinct refusal
to give up gambling to please anybody) and a most wholesome physical
sign. "My recommendation is that he should be temporarily removed from
his present dull surroundings; there is not scope in them for his mind;
he should be sent abroad for a month or two with his tutor. That will do
him a world of good."

If it was not very good advice, it was probably quite as judicious
as other "opinions" for which a hundred and fifty guineas have been
cheerfully paid. It was at all events a great comfort to hear that there
was nothing constitutionally wrong with "dearest Richard," and that he
only wanted a tonic for mind and body. The doctor's verdict was accepted
by both parents, but there was an insurmountable obstacle to its being
carried into effect in Master Richard himself. My father could not