“I have no fancy for the career.”
“Well, there are Government situations in abundance. A man must do something in our work-a-day world, if only to be companionable to those who do. Idleness begets ennui and falling in love; and although the first only wearies for the time, the latter lays its impress on all a man's after-life, fills him with false notions of happiness, instils wrong motives for exertion, and limits the exercise of capacity to the small and valueless accomplishments that find favor beside the work-table and the piano.”
Forester received somewhat haughtily the unasked counsels of Mr. Heffernan respecting his future mode of life, nor was it improbable that he might himself have conveyed his opinion thereupon in words, had not the appearance of the waiter to prepare the table for dinner interposed a barrier.
“At what hour shall I order the horses, sir?” asked the man of Heffernan.
“Shall we say eight o'clock, or is that too early?”
“Not a minute too early for me,” said Forester; “I am longing to leave this place, where I hope never again to set foot.”
“At eight, then, let them be at the door; and whenever your cook is ready, we dine.”
CHAPTER VI. AN UNLOOKED-FOR PROMOTION
The same post that brought the Knight the tidings of his lost suit conveyed the intelligence of his son's departure for India; and although the latter event was one over which, if in his power, he would have exercised no control, yet was it by far the more saddening of the two announcements.