144 THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



sons again to a married woman, merely because she is 

 pretty. There has been enough of mischief in my family, 

 on that score, already, without Francis adding to the 

 stock." 



" I am glad, my dear Lady Charlotte," said Mr. Egerton, 

 " that you have mentioned this subject to me, which, I 

 doubt not, is a painful one to you, as, indeed, it is to my- 

 self. I have a strong regard for Francis, and should 

 extremely lament that one of the first acts of his manhood 

 should cast a slur over his character, which it might never 

 be in his power to remove. That he has acted impru- 

 dently, at all events thoughtlessly, in this affair, there is his 

 own evidence to show. In one of those freaks in which 

 human nature sometimes indulges, he has inconsiderately 

 yielded to the impression made upon him by a few hour:-' 

 intercourse with, certainly, a very lovely woman, but one 

 whose situation in life forbids her ever becoming his wife, 

 unless under circumstances which no rational man would 

 anticipate, much less speculate upon the age of her 

 husband being not more than half a dozen years beyond 

 his own." 



" Then you really think the silly boy fancies himself 

 all at once enamoured with another man's wife ? " inter- 

 rupted Lady Charlotte, with marked anxiety in her 

 countenance. 



" Why," replied Mr. Egerton, " if it were justifiable to 

 make a joke of a subject so serious as this, it might create 

 a smile were I to tell you in what way my suspicions have 

 been confirmed. Whilst Francis was under my tuition, 

 his constant objection to verse-making was, that he had 

 no poetry in his soul ; in fact, that Nature had forbidden 

 his being a poet, and, consequently, his attempt at mak- 

 ing verses was a futile one. But mark the change ! Xo 

 sooner does the ' silly boy,' as your ladyship so properly 

 styles him, fancy himself in love, than he likewise fancies 

 himself a poet." 



" Surely," exclaimed Lady Charlotte, " he has not been 

 writing verses to Mrs. Denham ? " 



" I hope not," replied Mr. Egerton; "but that he has 

 been exercising his newly-acquired talent on Mrs. Denham, 

 I fear there is no reason to doubt ; and I speak from 

 somewhat like ocular demonstration of the fact. Happen- 

 ing to enter his room yesterday afternoon, in search of a 

 book I had lent him, I saw some scraps of paper on his 



