"
"Should you have objected if he had still been going to India?"
"I would have prevented an engagement, and should have regretted her
knowing anything about it. The wear of such waiting might be too
great a strain on her."
"Possibly," said Fordham. "And should you consider this other
profession an insuperable objection?"
"Certainly not, if he goes on as I think he will; but such success
cannot come to him for many years, and a good deal may happen in that
time."
Poor Lucas! He would have been much cheered could he have heard the
above conversation instead of Cecil's wrath, which, like his
sister's, worked a good deal like madness on the brain.
Mr. Evelyn chose to resent the slight to his family, and the
ingratitude to his uncle, in thus running counter to their wishes,
and plunging into what the young aristocrat termed low life. He did
not spare the warning that it would be impossible to keep up an
intimacy with one who chose to "grub his nose in hospitals and
dissecting rooms."
Naturally Lucas took these as the sentiments of the whole family, and
found that he was sacrificing both love and friendship. Sir James
Evelyn indeed allowed that he was acting rightly according to his
lights. Sir Philip Cameron told him that his duty to a widowed
mother ought to come first, and his own Colonel, a good and wise man,
commended his decision, and said he hoped not to lose sight of him.
Pages:
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657
658
659
660