"You did not expect me to assist you again?"
"Certainly not, sir, after the last letter you wrote to me. I knew that when you wrote in that strain you meant what you said. I should never have troubled you again."
"After your hundred guineas had gone--and they would last you but a very short time--what did you intend to do?"
"I had hardly thought seriously about it. Perhaps the fickle goddess might have smiled on me again. If not, I should have done something or other. Probably enlisted."
"Enlisted as a common soldier?"
"As a common soldier. I don't know that I'm good for much else."
"But all that is changed now. Or at least you suppose so."
"I suppose nothing of the kind, sir," said the young man, hotly.
"As the master of Heron Dyke, with an income of six thousand a year, you will be a very different personage from a needy young rake, haunting low gaming-tables, and trying to pick up a few guineas at faro from bigger simpletons than yourself."
Gilbert the younger sprang to his feet, his lips white and quivering with passion.