“You 'll find my father there,” said the boy, as he stopped short at the door; and Harcourt, staring at him for a second or two in silence, turned the handle and entered. Lord Glencore never turned his head as the other drew nigh, but sat with his forehead resting on the table, extending his hand only in welcome. “My poor fellow!” said Harcourt, grasping the thin and wasted fingers,--“my poor fellow, how glad I am to be with you again!” And he seated himself at his side as he spoke. “You had a relapse after you wrote to me?” Glencore slowly raised his head, and, pushing back a small velvet skull-cap that he wore, said,-- “You 'd not have known me, George. Eh? see how gray I am! I saw myself in the glass to-day for the first time, and I really could n't believe my eyes.” “In another week the change will be just as great the other way. It was some kind of a fever, was it not?” “I believe so,” said the other, sighing. “And they bled you and blistered you, of course. These fellows are like the farriers--they have but the one system for everything. Who was your torturer; where did you get him from?” “A practitioner of the neighborhood, the wild growth of the mountain,” said Glencore, with a sickly smile; “but I must n't be ungrateful; he saved my life, if that be a cause for gratitude.” “And a right good one, I take it. How like you that boy is, Glencore! I started back when he met me. It was just as if I was transported again to old school-days, and had seen yourself as you used to be long ago. Do you remember the long meadow, Glencore?” “Harcourt,” said he, falteringly, “don't talk to me of long ago,--at least not now;” and then, as if thinking aloud, added, “How strange that a man without a hope should like the future better than the past!” “How old is Charley?” asked Harcourt, anxious to engage him on some other theme. “He 'll be fifteen, I think, his next birthday; he seems older, does n't he?” “Yes, the boy is well grown and athletic. What has he been doing--have you had him at a school?” “At a school!” said Glencore, starting; “no, he has lived always here with myself. I have been his tutor; I read with him every day, till that illness seized me.” “He looks clever; is he so?” “Like the rest of us, George, he may learn, but he can't be taught. The old obstinacy of the race is strong in him, and to rouse him to rebel all you have to do is to give him a task; but his faculties are good, his apprehension quick, and his memory, if he would but tax it, excellent. Here 's Craggs come to tell us of dinner; give me your arm, George, we haven't far to go--this one room serves us for everything.” “You're better lodged than I expected--your letters told me to look for a mere barrack; and the place stands so well.” “Yes, the spot was well chosen, although I suppose its founders cared little enough about the picturesque.”