I shall be a lively, perhaps even a frivolous old man!" "It is natural," said his uncle, sententiously, "that one should desire to prolong an agreeable life.

We have perhaps a selfish indisposition to bring our pleasure to a close.

But I presume," he added, "that you expect to marry." "That too, dear uncle, is a hope, a desire, a vision," said Felix.

It occurred to him for an instant that this was possibly a preface to the offer of the hand of one of Mr.Wentworth's admirable daughters.

But in the name of decent modesty and a proper sense of the hard realities of this world, Felix banished the thought.