“And then,” murmured Harcourt,--for all the while he was pursuing his own train of thought, quite irrespective of all Upton was saying,--“and then he turns him adrift on the world without friend or fortune.” “It is precisely that he may have both the one and the other that I have come to confer with you now,” replied Upton. “Glencore has made a liberal provision for the boy, and asked me to become his guardian. I have no fancy for the trust, but I did n't see how I could decline it. In this letter he assigns to him an income, which shall be legally secured to him. He commits to me the task of directing his education, and suggesting some future career, and for both these objects I want your counsel.” “Education,--prospects,--why, what are you talking about? A poor fellow who has not a name, nor a home, nor one to acknowledge him,--what need has he of education, or what chance of prospects? I'd send him to sea, and if he wasn't drowned before he came to manhood, I'd give him his fortune, whatever it was, and say, 'Go settle in some of the colonies.' You have no right to train him up to meet fresh mortifications and insults in life; to be flouted by every fellow that has a father, and outraged by every cur whose mother was married.” “And are the colonies especially inhabited by illegitimate offspring?” said Upton, dryly. “At least he'd not be met with a rebuff at every step he made. The rude life of toil would be better than the polish of a civilization that could only reflect upon him.” “Not badly said, Harcourt,” said Upton, smiling; “but as to the boy, I have other prospects. He has, if I mistake not, very good faculties. You estimate them even higher. I don't see why they should be neglected. If he merely possess the mediocrity of gifts which make men tolerable lawyers and safe doctors, why, perhaps, he may turn them into some channel. If he really can lay claim to higher qualities, they must not be thrown away.” “Which means that he ought to be bred up to diplomacy,” said Harcourt. “Perhaps,” said the other, with a bland inclination of the head. “And what can an old dragoon like myself contribute to such an object?” asked Harcourt. “You can be of infinite service in many ways,” said Upton; “and for the present I wish to leave the boy in your care, till I can learn something about my own destiny. This, of course, I shall know in a few days. Meanwhile you 'll look after him, and as soon as his removal becomes safe you 'll take him away from this,--it does not much matter whither; probably some healthy, secluded spot in Wales, for a week or two, would be advisable. Glencore and he must not meet again; if ever they are to do so, it must be after a considerable lapse of time.” “Have you thought of a name for him, or is his to be still Massy?” asked Harcourt, bluntly. “He may take the maternal name of Glencore's family, and be called Doyle, and the settlements could be drawn up in that name.”