"I never sneer at anything, my dear Mr. Joyce; sneering shows very bad breeding. I say distinctly that I think you would be mad to fritter away your days in your present position. Nor do I think, under circumstances, you ought to go to Berlin. It would have done very well as a stepping-stone had things turned out differently; but now you would be always drawing odious comparisons between your solitary lot and the 'what might have been,' as Owen Meredith so sweetly puts it." "Where, then, shall I go?" "To London. Where else should any one go with a desire to make a mark in the world, and energy and determination to aid him in accomplishing his purpose? And this is your case. Ah, you may shake your head, but I tell you it is. You think differently just now, but when once you are there, 'in among the throngs of men,' you will acknowledge it. Why, when you were there, at the outset of your career, utterly friendless and alone, as you have told me, you found friends and work; and now that you are known, and by a certain few appreciated, do you think it will be otherwise?" "You are marvellously inspiriting, Lady Caroline, and I can never be sufficiently grateful for the advice you have given me--better still, for the manner in which you have given it. But suppose I do go to London, what--in the cant phrase of the day--what am I to 'go in for'?" "Newspaper-writing--what do they call it?--journalism, at first; the profession in which you were doing so well when you came here. That, if I mistake not, will in due course lead to something else, about which we will talk at some future time." "That is just what I was coming to, Lady Caroline. You will allow me to see you sometimes?" "I shall be always deeply interested in your welfare, Mr. Joyce, and anxious to know how you progress. Oh yes; I hope both to see and hear a great deal of you. Besides, Lord Hetherington may feel inclined to take up the chronicles again; he is rather off them just now, I know; and then you can give your successor some very valuable hints."