'For, Richie,' said he, 'you may not know--and it is not to win your
thanks I inform you of it--that I labour unremittingly in my son's
interests. I have established him, on his majority, in Germany, at a
Court. My object now is to establish him in England. Promise me that it
shall be the decided endeavour of your energies and talents to rise to
the height I point out to you? You promise, I perceive,' he added, sharp
in detecting the unpleasant predicament of a boy who is asked to speak
priggishly. So then I could easily promise with a firm voice. He
dropped certain explosive hints, which reminded me of the funny ideas of
my state and greatness I had when a child. I shrugged at them; I cared
nothing for revelations to come by-and-by. My object was to unite my
father and grandfather on terms of friendship.

This was the view that now absorbed and fixed my mind. To have him a
frequent visitor at Riversley, if not a resident in the house, enlivening
them all, while I, perhaps, trifled a cavalry sabre, became one of my
settled dreams. The difficult part of the scheme appeared to me the
obtaining of my father's consent. I mentioned it, and he said
immediately that he must have his freedom. 'Now, for instance,' said he,
'what is my desire at this moment? I have always a big one perched on a
rock in the distance; but I speak of my present desire. And let it be
supposed that the squire is one of us: we are returning to England.
Well, I want to show you a stork's nest. We are not far enough South for
the stork to build here. It is a fact, Richie, that I do want to show
you the bird for luck, and as a feature of the country. And in me, a
desire to do a thing partakes of the impetus of steam.

Well, you see we are jogging home to England. I resist myself for duty's
sake: that I can do. But if the squire were here with his yea and his
nay, by heavens! I should be off to the top of the Rhine like a tornado.