chivalrous office thus volunteered, he joined me at my employment, and
said,--

"There is a better steel for the hands of a well-born lad than a
carpenter's plane."

"Aha! Uncle--that depends--"

"Depends! What on?"

"On the use one makes of it. Peter the Great was better employed in
making ships than Charles XII. in cutting throats."

"Poor Charles XII.!" said my uncle, sighing pathetically; "a very brave
fellow!"

"Pity he did not like the ladies a little better!"

"No man is perfect!" said my uncle, sententiously. "But, seriously, you
are now the male hope of the family; you are now-" My uncle stopped,
and his face darkened. I saw that he thought of his son,--that
mysterious son! And looking at him tenderly, I observed that his deep
lines had grown deeper, his iron-gray hair more gray. There was the
trace of recent suffering on his face; and though he had not spoken to
us a word of the business on which he had left us, it required no
penetration to perceive that it had come to no successful issue.

My uncle resumed: "Time out of mind, every generation of our house has
given one soldier to his country. I look round now: only one branch is
budding yet on the old tree; and--"