Brothers

. The pipers, for the most part, envy the dancers; but many a da

nt sky," into Westchester, where a scholar of repute undertook their preparation for Sandhurst. Other days they worked at home, not too hard, and played much tennis-a new game then-and practised arts which please country maidens, amongst whom Betty Kirtling was not.

ed by the common herd, which reveals itself to genius, because it is part, and not the least part, of genius? And you will notice that if a great man be speaking in general company, his eyes will wander here and there in search of the kindred soul, and when that is found, they wander no more. On this occasion a chance remark led the talk to India. Lord Randolph regretted that so br

days of agony, his heroic mind fixed itself upon the needs of his country, to the very last he gave us sound and clear advice. When he died, the gr

an!" excl

. The speaker had marched with the column despatched to the relief of Cawnpore. "We could only spare," said he, "seven hundred and fi

ield-guns,

from whom he had received this piece of information, he brok

-despatches," sa

a soldier. On Mark's eager affirmative, he said deliberately: "When you are

d talk of nothing sa

" said Jim. "Supp

? That's a de

did not

you're not going into the Serv

"A fellow must do something. Sold

d as anything els

Kidd and the Spanish Main, without feeling a titillation of the marrow. And now that he was eighteen, with fluff on his lip, Mark could provoke this

it so badly. You've a leg for a g-g-gaiter. And your voice, your v-voice is amazing. I'd sooner hear you sing r-rot than lis

something of a thorn in the side of his friend Jim. Mark had an ingenuous habit of putting wise words into the mouth of this Olympian. "Old Archie," he would observe, with a beaming face, "thinks so-and-so...." Jim was sorely tempted to retort: "If old Archie thinks that, why the deuce doesn't he say it?"

d-fashioned inn where the name of Samphire was known and respected. The Squire offered to accompany them, but Mark begged hi

seeing nothing but dun-coloured r

the fires. I am sure I should learn to like London, if it were

sputtering from the gridiron, a couple of tankards of sto

nervous?"

ted a qua

e out amongst th

I shall be jolly

talked: "I say, what a glorious b-buzzing, like a

nce, I tell you, but it pleases my people to see me make an ass of myself-Fancy a rank outsider like that wanting to go into the Service-Yes; seventy-nine, not out-and first-class cricket-Who are those fellows with dirty collars?-If you try to crib and get nailed, you're done-Hullo, Samph

hey shook themselves

aid Jim, as they went up th

" Mark answere

w," Jim mutt

waited their turn. Boy after boy came out g

d Mark; and then, as he spoke, his voice bro

reat double doors. His face was white as a sheet and his l

"I-I thought I was all right,"

wrong?"

m done. If you don't mind, I'll hook it now. No, don't come wit

ep of an old man. Mark's fac

e said. "And it m-m-

g the floor. Near the window a big, burly man was testing the sight of a slender, round-shouldered youth. "How many fingers do I hold u

confound

cheeks," Mar

aited for some time, while the wind from a

n our coats,"

d Mark, glancing at a row of

the chair. He knew that his sight and hearing were excellent; but why in the name of all that was hateful did not Mark come back? Half-way down the room Jim could see him, standing in front of a small, ferret-faced man, who was talking quickly. Now, Jim had not been asked to run round a table or to perform any other strange exercises, but Mark was treat

im!" yel

ver and reel, but the tall, thin doctor had seen it too. When Jim reached them, Mark was on his back on the big tab

ard him say. "Not a surgeo

sly. "He's only fainted; he's d

ded malevolently: "When I am ready to receive ins

y walked as far as Mitchell's in Bond Street, and bought two stalls for the Colleen Bawn, in which Dion Boucicault was acting. Then they strolled on t

l your exam is over," Mark said. "

g about the exam no

eplied. "All the same, you

were strolling home through the crowded, gas-lit streets,

o it," s

dsome roysterer, who was reeling by on the arm of a girl as reckless

nightcap, anyh

ghter of the women, the clinking of glasses, the swish of silk petticoats, the white glare, the overpowering odours of the liquors and perfumes, the atmosphere hot on one's cheek-these smote him. Yet the sensation of violence was not unpleasant. He w

s Squeak," Ji

nised the

hire minor-why a

ed whiskies

yours that I'm here," said Squeak, as

n it to him,

an that if I'd not got the chuck from Brown's I shouldn't be 'ere, but

r complexion had lost its freshness and delicacy; her eyes were n

ll the 'air I gave 'im,"

uite so much le

e very low, bending across the bar, "that I'm not any younger, or prettier,

l him to come to see you.

ng through an oily, black beard. Jim felt a mad impulse to kick him on the shins. Beside him was a tall, thin youth of the type known in the seventies as the la-di-da young man. His pallid, clean-shaven face, his light-blue eyes, his closely cropped flaxen hair, his delicate features were all in striking contrast to the Jew's

n," sai

like foam upon troubled waters. Suddenly the fascination of the scene gripped him. This was London-London, the city of millions; and he stood on the pavement of its most famous thoroughfare, of it and in it, whether he loved it

ses Devonshire House. At the corner stood a huge policeman, grimly imp

time?" said Mark

past twel

ked at h

s more. I'm

he

t girl-

on ear

shall beg her p-pardo

s mad as

hich obliterated all others-the slender figure of Mark when it reeled back into the arms of the

fallen into coarse, gross hands such as those of the Jew. Then he thought of the colossus at the

ed yet?"

are! I saw you tr

bly ignorant, but not without heart. I promised to see her again

k's face had resumed its natural expression-that look of jo

m 'un

ow, that you'd be thinkin

s-sick of th

th ears attuned to catch the lightest sigh. To his astonishment, Mark breathed quietly and regularly. He must be-asleep! Jim waited for another ten minutes; then he slipped out of bed. The moon was throwing a sof

is taken at random, and forgotten as soon as taken; or it escapes observation altogether. But Jim was shown, as in a vision, the past and the future: the gre