I was still living in London with Jane when he came to see me, having just returned from a long tour abroad with Ralph.
Sir George, he said, was quite well again, but the coolness between himself and his father had dropped almost to freezing-point since it had come to light that he had been innocent after all.

His father could not forgive his son for putting him in the wrong.
"I seldom disappoint him in matters of this kind," he said.

"Indeed, I may say I have, as a rule, surpassed his expectations, and I must be careful never to fall short of them in this way again.

But ah! Miss Middleton, I am sure you will agree with me how difficult it is to preserve an even course without relaxing a little at times." "My dear Mr.Charles," said Jane, beaming at him over her knitting, but not quite taking him in the manner he intended, "you are young yet, but don't be downhearted.

I am sure by your face that as you grow older these deviations, which you so properly regret, will grow fewer and fewer, until, as life goes on, they will gradually cease altogether." "I consider it not improbable myself," said Charles, with a faint smile, and he changed the conversation.