This will not be too much for me, but I
must be in time for the 3.30 train, I promised my father.'
'Is he here alone?'
'Yes, my uncle is in Brazil. My father is here for a month, and is
very kind; he seems very fairly satisfied with me; and he wants me to
get prepared for the commission in the Life Guards.'
'The Life Guards!'
'You see he is bent on my being an English gentleman, but he has some
dislike to the University, fancies it too old-world or something;
and, honestly, I cannot wish it myself. I can't take much to books,
and Dr. White says I have begun too late, and shall never make much
of them.'
'If you went into the Guards, my brother might be a friend to you.'
'My back is not fit for the infantry,' said Ferdinand, 'but I can
ride anything; I always could. I care for nothing so much as horses.'
'Then why not some other cavalry regiment?'
'Well, my father knows a man with a son in the Life Guards, who has
persuaded him that it is the thing, and I don't greatly care.'
'Is he prepared for the expensiveness?'
'I fancy it is the recommendation,' said Ferdinand, smiling with a
little shame; 'but if you really see reason for some other choice
perhaps you would represent it to him.
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