I suppose he did not care for it, and can quite imagine he would not, so he sold out, and a short time afterwards obtained a civil appointment.

He has very good interest; his father was General Bathurst, who was, you know, a very distinguished officer.

So he had no difficulty in getting into our service, where he is entirely in his element.

His father died two years ago, and I believe he came into a good property at home.

Everyone expected he would have thrown up his appointment, but it made no difference to him, and he just went on as before, working as if he had to depend entirely on the service." "I can quite understand that," Isobel said, "to a really earnest man a life of usefulness here must be vastly preferable to living at home without anything to do or any object in life." "Well, perhaps so, my dear, and in theory that is, no doubt, the case; but practically, I fancy you would find nineteen men out of twenty, even if they are what you call earnest men, retire from the ranks of hard workers if they come into a nice property.