I really was impressed, as we paced up and down the avenue, by
the Vicar's words and weighty, weighed advice. He spoke of the
various professions; mentioned contemporaries of his own who had
achieved success: how one had a Seat in Parliament, would be
given a Seat in the Cabinet when his party next came in; another
was a Bishop with a Seat in the House of Lords; a third was a
Barrister who was soon, it was said, to be raised to the Bench.

But in spite of my good intentions, my real wish to find,
before it is too late, some career or other for myself (and
the question is getting serious), I am far too much at the
mercy of ludicrous images. Front Seats, Episcopal, Judicial,
Parliamentary Benches--were all the ends then, I asked my self,
of serious, middle-aged ambition only things to sit on?




_Lord Arden_


"If I were Lord Arden," said the Vicar, "I should shut up that
great House; it's too big--what can a young unmarried man...?"

"If I were Lord Arden," said the Vicar's wife (and Mrs. La
Mountain's tone showed how much she disapproved of that young
Nobleman), "if I were Lord Arden, I should live there, and do my
duty to my tenants and neighbours."

"If I were Lord Arden," I said; but then it flashed vividly