"He soon has to give up his trade. For, if he be repeatedly beaten,
no one will either bet on him or subscribe to provide him with a
stake. If he is invariably successful, those, if any, who dare fight
him find themselves in a like predicament. In either case his
occupation is gone. If he has saved money he opens a sporting
public-house, where he sells spirits of the worst description to his
old rivals and their associates, and eventually drinks himself to
death or bankruptcy. If, however, he has been improvident or
unfortunate, he begs from his former patrons and gives lessons.
Finally, when the patrons are tired of him and the pupils fail, he
relapses into the laboring class with a ruined constitution, a
disfigured face, a brutalized nature, and a tarnished reputation."

Lydia remained silent so long after this that Lucian's expression of
magisterial severity first deepened, then wavered, and finally gave
way to a sense of injury; for she seemed to have forgotten him. He
was about to protest against this treatment, when she looked at him
again, and said,

"Why did Lord Worthington introduce a man of this class to me?"

"Because you asked him to do so. Probably he thought that if you
chose to make such a request without previous inquiry, you should
not blame him if you found yourself saddled with an undesirable
acquaintance. Recollect that you asked for the introduction on the
platform at Wiltstoken, in the presence of the man himself. Such a
ruffian would be capable of making a disturbance for much less
offence than an explanation and refusal would have given him."

"Lucian," said Lydia, in a tone of gentle admonition, "I asked to be