remainder of the household had consisted of a French governess, a
_bonne_, and a man-cook. Here Alaric remained till he had
perfectly acquired the French pronunciation, and very nearly as
perfectly forgotten the English. He was then sent to a private
school in England, where he remained till he was sixteen,
returning home to Brussels but once during those years, when he
was invited to be present at his sister's marriage with a Belgian
banker. At the age of sixteen he lost his father, who, on dying,
did not leave behind him enough of the world's wealth to pay for
his own burial. His half-pay of course died with him, and young
Tudor was literally destitute.

His brother-in-law, the banker, paid for his half-year's
schooling in England, and then removed him to a German academy,
at which it was bargained that he should teach English without
remuneration, and learn German without expense. Whether he taught
much English may be doubtful, but he did learn German thoroughly;
and in that, as in most other transactions of his early life,
certainly got the best of the bargain which had been made for
him.

At the age of twenty he was taken to the Brussels bank as a
clerk; but here he soon gave visible signs of disliking the
drudgery which was exacted from him. Not that he disliked
banking. He would gladly have been a partner with ever so small a
share, and would have trusted to himself to increase his stake.
But there is a limit to the good nature of brothers-in-law, even
in Belgium; and Alaric was quite aware that no such good luck as
this could befall him, at any rate until he had gone through many
years of servile labour. His sister also, though sisterly enough