had the priceless boon of leisure, set in a framework of small
duties, there was much to be said for life, and that I was a poor
creature if I could not be soberly content.

Of course I know that I have missed the nearer ties of life, the
hearth, the home, the companionship of a wife, the joys and
interests of growing girls and boys. But if a man is fatherly and
kind-hearted, he will find plenty of young men who are responsive
to a paternal interest, and intensely grateful for the good-
humoured care of one who will listen to their troubles, their
difficulties, and their dreams. I have two or three young friends
who tell me what they are doing, and what they hope to do; I have
many correspondents who were friends of mine as boys, who tell me
from time to time how it goes with them in the bigger world, and
who like in return to hear something of my own doings.

And so I sit, while the clock on the mantelpiece ticks out the
pleasant minutes, and the fire winks and crumbles on the hearth,
till the old gyp comes tapping at the door to learn my intentions
for the evening; and then, again, I pass out into the court, the
lighted windows of the Hall gleam with the ancient armorial glass,
from staircase after staircase come troops of alert, gowned
figures, while overhead, above all the pleasant stir and murmur of
life, hang in the dark sky the unchanging stars.