"
And Harry blushed like a girl as he gravely nodded his head.
"Does she live here?"
"She will for the future."
"And you must go back to your regiment?"
"Almost immediately."
"Too bad! Too bad! Why not leave the army?"
"I--I have thought of that; but unless I returned to Sandal-Side, my
father would be angry beyond every thing."
"Fathers cannot be autocrats--quite. You might sell out."
"Julius, you ought not to suggest such a thing. The temptation has been
lurking in my own heart. I am sorry you have given it a voice. It would
be a shameful thing to do unless father were willing."
"I have a friend anxious for a commission. I should think a thousand
pounds would make an exchange."
"Do not speak on the subject, Julius."
"Very well. I was only supposing; a fellow-feeling, you know. I have
married the girl I desired; and I am sorry for a young man who is
obliged to leave a handsome mistress, and to feel that others may see
her and talk to her while he cannot. It was only a supposition. Do not
mind it."
But the germ of every wrong deed is the reflection whether it be
possible. And after Harry had gone away with the thought in his heart,
Julius sat musing over his own plans, and Sophia wrote the letter which
so unnecessarily and unkindly shadowed the pleasant life at Seat-Sandal.
For though the squire pooh-poohed it, and Charlotte professed
indifference about it, and Mrs.
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