126 A BOOK ABOUT THE GABDEN. 



often to be found (thank Heaven) in young gentlemen 

 of fourteen. 



Years passed. There was some misunderstanding 

 between the marquis and the Cambridge examiners 

 on the subject of his being Senior Wrangler, and the 

 duke, after hearing his son's statement, was pleased 

 to pronounce that the Dons were " offal." Lord 

 Evelyn went into the Guards, and I shall never forget 

 him on his first return from London, after an absence 

 of six months from the castle. I was at tea in the 

 lodge when his mail-phaeton drove up, and was hardly 

 out of the porch, when his hearty " How are you, 

 Oldacre? ".drew my eyes to the handsomest, merriest, 

 kindliest face that ever wore a moustache. And sitting 

 by him was a brother officer, just the man you would 

 have expected that my lord would choose for his 

 friend, looking as though he would go at anything 

 from an ox-fence to a redan, and yet would do no 

 wilful hurt as though his heart, like Tom Bowling's, 

 was brave and yet soft ; and he was, in the full beauty 

 of its meaning, a gentle man. I went back to my wife, 

 who had Frank Chiswick's wife, a baby, on her knee, 

 and I said to her, " Susan, my lord's come, and has 

 brought home a husband for Lady Alice." " I'll 

 believe it," she answered, " when I see his wings ! for 

 the duke must have something more than mortal to 

 suit him as a son-in-law." 



And now, gentlemen, let the old horse catch his 

 wind, if you please, dip his nose in the refreshing 

 waters of the trough, and then trot on to the end of 

 his journey. 



The deer (said Mr. Oldacre, as he resumed his 



