Clarence, the older, was anything but a model boy.

He was much addicted to ale and cigars, and thought of nothing in the world so much as money.

He was a spendthrift, and, like Godfrey Evans, had a great desire to be rich, but he never thought of working and saving in order to gain the wished-for end.

This good old-fashioned and safe way was too long and tedious for him, and he was constantly on the lookout for a short road to wealth and consequent happiness.

Before he had been twenty-four hours under his uncle's roof, he thought he had discovered it, and this was the way it came about: Clarence and his brother arrived at the General's house in the forenoon, and before night came, the former wished most heartily that he had stayed at home.