TIME had advanced to after noon before the selection ofGeoffrey's future wife was accomplished, and before theinstructions of Geoffrey's brother were complete enough tojustify the opening of the matrimonial negotiation at Nagle'sHotel.

"Don't leave him till you have got his promise," were LadyHolchester's last words when her son started on his mission.

"If Geoffrey doesn't jump at what I am going to offer him," wasthe son's reply, "I shall agree with my father that the case ishopeless; and I shall end, like my father, in giving Geoffreyup."

This was strong language for Julius to use. It was not easy torouse the disciplined and equable temperament of LordHolchester's eldest son. No two men were ever more thoroughlyunlike each other than these two brothers. It is melancholy toacknowledge it of the blood relation of a "stroke oar," but itmust be owned, in the interests of truth, that Julius cultivatedhis intelligence. This degenerate Briton could digest books--andcouldn't digest beer. Could learn languages--and couldn't learnto row. Practiced the foreign vice of perfecting himself in theart of playing on a musical instrument and couldn't learn theEnglish virtue of knowing a good horse when he saw him. Gotthrough life. (Heaven only knows how!) without either a biceps ora betting-book. Had openly acknowledged, in English society, thathe didn't think the barking of a pack of hounds the finest musicin the world. Could go to foreign parts, and see a mountain whichnobody had ever got to the top of yet--and didn't instantly feelhis honor as an Englishman involved in getting to the top of ithimself. Such people may, and do, exist among the inferior racesof the Continent. Let us thank Heaven, Sir, that England neverhas been, and never will be, the right place for them!

Arrived at Nagle's Hotel, and finding nobody to inquire of in thehall, Julius applied to the young lady who sat behind the windowof "the bar." The young lady was reading something so deeplyinteresting in the evening newspaper that she never even heardhim. Julius went into the coffee-room.

The waiter, in his corner, was absorbed over a second newspaper.Three gentlemen, at three different tables, were absorbed in athird, fourth, and fifth newspaper. They all alike went on withtheir reading without noticing the entrance of the stranger.Julius ventured on disturbing the waiter by asking for Mr.Geoffrey Delamayn. At the sound of that illustrious name thewaiter looked up with a start. "Are you Mr. Delamayn's brother,Sir?"

"Yes."

The three gentlemen at the tables looked up with a start. Thelight of Geoffrey's celebrity fell, reflected, on Geoffrey'sbrother, and made a public character of him.

"You'll find Mr. Geoffrey, Sir," said the waiter, in a flurried,excited manner, "at the Cock and Bottle, Putney."

"I expected to find him here. I had an appointment with him atthis hotel."

The wait er opened his eyes on Julius with an expression of blankastonishment. "Haven't you heard the news, Sir?"

"No!"

"God bless my soul!" exclaimed the waiter--and offered thenewspaper.

"God bless my soul!" exclaimed the three gentlemen--and offeredthe three newspapers.

"What is it?" asked Julius.

"What is it?" repeated the waiter, in a hollow voice. "The mostdreadful thing that's happened in my time. It's all up, Sir, withthe great Foot-Race at Fulham. Tinkler has gone stale."

The three gentlemen dropped solemnly back into their threechairs, and repeated the dreadful intelligence, inchorus--"Tinkler has gone stale."

A man who stands face to face with a great national disaster, andwho doesn't understand it, is a man who will do wisely to holdhis tongue and enlighten his mind without asking other people tohelp him. Julius accepted the waiter's newspaper, and sat down tomake (if possible) two discoveries: First, as to whether"Tinkler" did, or did not, mean a man. Second, as to whatparticular form of human affliction you implied when youdescribed that man as "gone stale."

There was no difficulty in finding the news. It was printed inthe largest type, and was followed by a personal statement of thefacts, taken one way--which was followed, in its turn, by anotherpersonal statement of the facts, taken in another way. Moreparticulars, and further personal statements, were promised inlater editions. The royal salute of British journalism thunderedthe announcement of Tinkler's staleness before a people prostrateon the national betting book.

Divested of exaggeration, the facts were few enough and simpleenough. A famous Athletic Association of the North had challengeda famous Athletic Association of the South. The usual "Sports"were to take place--such as running, jumping, "putting" thehammer, throwing cricket-balls, and the like--and the whole wasto wind up with a Foot-Race of unexampled length and difficultyin the annals of human achievement between the two best men oneither side. "Tinkler" was the best man on the side of the South."Tinkler" was backed in innumerable betting-books to win. AndTinkler's lungs had suddenly given way under stress of training!A prospect of witnessing a prodigious achievement in foot-racing,and (more important still) a prospect of winning and losing largesums of money, was suddenly withdrawn from the eyes of theBritish people. The "South" could produce no second opponentworthy of the North out of its own associated resources.Surveying the athletic world in general, but one man existed whomight possibly replace "Tinkler"--and it was doubtful, in thelast degree, whether he would consent to come forward under thecircumstances. The name of that man--Julius read it withhorror--was Geoffrey Delamayn.

Profound silence reigned in the coffee-room. Julius laid down thenewspaper, and looked about him. The waiter was busy, in hiscorner, with a pencil and a betting-book. The three gentlemenwere busy, at the three tables, with pencils and betting-books.

"Try and persuade him!" said the waiter, piteously, as Delamayn'sbrother rose to leave the room.

"Try and persuade him!" echoed the three gentlemen, as Delamayn'sbrother opened the door and went out.

Julius called a cab. and told the driver (busy with a pencil anda betting-book) to go to the Cock and Bottle, Putney. The manbrightened into a new being at the prospect. No need to hurryhim; he drove, unasked, at the top of his horse's speed.

As the cab drew near to its destination the signs of a greatnational excitement appeared, and multiplied. The lips of apeople pronounced, with a grand unanimity, the name of "Tinkler."The heart of a people hung suspended (mostly in the publichouses) on the chances for and against the possibility ofreplacing "Tinkler" by another man. The scene in front of the innwas impressive in the highest degree. Even the London blackguardstood awed and quiet in the presence of the national calamity.Even the irrepressible man with the apron, who always turns up tosell nuts and sweetmeats in a crowd, plied his trade in silence,and found few indeed (to the credit of the nation be it spoken)who had the heart to crack a nut at such a time as this. Thepolice were on the spot, in large numbers, and in mute sympathywith the people, touching to see. Julius, on being stopped at thedoor, mentioned his name--and received an ovation. His brother!oh, heavens, his brother! The people closed round him, the peopleshook hands with him, the people invoked blessings on his head.Julius was half suffocated, when the police rescued him, andlanded him safe in the privileged haven on the inner side of thepublic house door. A deafening tumult broke out, as he entered,from the regions above stairs. A distant voice screamed, "Mindyourselves!" A hatless shouting man tore down through the peoplecongregated on the stairs. "Hooray! Hooray! He's promised to doit! He's entered for the race!" Hundreds on hundreds of voicestook up the cry. A roar of cheering burst from the peopleoutside. Reporters for the newspapers raced, in franticprocession, out of the inn, and rushed into cabs to put the newsin print. The hand of the landlord, leading Julius carefully upstairs by the arm, trembled with excitement. "His brother,gentlemen! his brother!" At those magic words a lane was madethrough the throng. At those magic words the closed door of thecouncil-chamber flew open; and Julius found himself among theAthletes of his native country, in full parliament assembled. Isany description of them needed? The description of Geoffreyapplies to them all. The manhood and muscle of England resemblethe wool and mutton of England, in this respect, that there isabout as much variety in a flock of athletes as in a flock ofsheep. Julius looked about him, and saw the same man in the samedress, with the same health, strength, tone, tastes, habits,conversation, and pursuits, repeated infinitely in every part ofthe room. The din was deafening; the enthusiasm (to anuninitiated stranger) something at once hideous and terrifying tobehold. Geoffrey had been lifted bodily on to the table, in hischair, so as to be visible to the whole room. They sang roundhim, they danced round him, they cheered round him, they sworeround him. He was hailed, in mandlin terms of endearment, bygrateful giants with tears in their eyes. "Dear old man!""Glorious, noble, splendid, beautiful fellow!" They hugged him.They patted him on the back. They wrung his hands. They proddedand punched his muscles. They embraced the noble legs that weregoing to run the unexampled race. At the opposite end of theroom, where it was physically impossible to get near the hero,the enthusiasm vented itself in feats of strength and acts ofdestruction. Hercules I. cleared a space with his elbows, andlaid down--and Hercules II. took him up in his teeth. HerculesIII. seized the poker from the fireplace, and broke it on hisarm. Hercules IV. followed with the tongs, and shattered them onhis neck. The smashing of the furniture and the pulling down ofthe house seemed likely to succeed--when Geoffrey's eye lightedby accident on Julius, and Geoffrey's voice, calling fiercely forhis brother, hushed the wild assembly into sudden attention, andturned the fiery enthusiasm into a new course. Hooray for hisbrother! One, two, three--and up with his brother on ourshoulders! Four five, six--and on with his brother, over ourheads, to the other end of the room! See, boys--see! the hero hasgot him by the collar! the hero has lifted him on the table! Thehero heated red-hot with his own triumph, welcomes the poorlittle snob cheerfully, with a volley of oaths. "Thunder andlightning! Explosion and blood! What's up now, Julius? What's upnow?"

Julius recovered his breath, and arranged his coat. The quietlittle man, who had just muscle enough to lift a dictionary fromthe shelf, and just training enough to play the fiddle, so farfrom being daunted by the rough reception accorded to him,appeared to feel no other sentiment in relation to it than asentiment of unmitigated conte mpt.

"You're not frightened, are you?" said Geoffrey. "Our fellows area roughish lot, but they mean well."

"I am not frightened," answered Julius. "I am onlywondering--when the Schools and Universities of England turn outsuch a set of ruffians as these--how long the Schools andUniversities of England will last."

"Mind what you are about, Julius! They'll cart you out of windowif they hear you."

"They will only confirm my opinion of them, Geoffrey, if theydo."

Here the assembly, seeing but not hearing the colloquy betweenthe two brothers, became uneasy on the subject of the comingrace. A roar of voices summoned Geoffrey to announce it, if therewas any thing wrong. Having pacified the meeting, Geoffrey turnedagain to his brother, and asked him, in no amiable mood, what thedevil he wanted there?

"I want to tell you something, before I go back to Scotland,"answered Julius. "My father is willing to give you a last chance.If you don't take it, _my_ doors are closed against you as wellas _his._"

Nothing is more remarkable, in its way, than the soundcommon-sense and admirable self-restraint exhibited by the youthof the present time when confronted by an emergency in whichtheir own interests are concerned. Instead of resenting the tonewhich his brother had taken with him, Geoffrey instantlydescended from the pedestal of glory on which he stood, andplaced himself without a struggle in the hands which vicariouslyheld his destiny--otherwise, the hands which vicariously held thepurse. In five minutes more the meeting had been dismissed, withall needful assurances relating to Geoffrey's share in the comingSports--and the two brothers were closeted together in one of theprivate rooms of the inn.

"Out with it!" said Geoffrey. "And don't be long about it."

"I won't be five minutes," replied Julius. "I go back to-night bythe mail-train; and I have a great deal to do in the mean time.Here it is, in plain words: My father consents to see you again,if you choose to settle in life--with his approval. And my motherhas discovered where you may find a wife. Birth, beauty, andmoney are all offered to you. Take them--and you recover yourposition as Lord Holchester's son. Refuse them--and you go toruin your own way."

Geoffrey's reception of the news from home was not of the mostreassuring kind. Instead of answering he struck his fistfuriously on the table, and cursed with all his heart some absentwoman unnamed.

"I have nothing to do with any degrading connection which you mayhave formed," Julius went on. "I have only to put the matterbefore you exactly as it stands, and to leave you to decide foryourself. The lady in question was formerly Miss Newenden--adescendant of one of the oldest families in England. She is nowMrs. Glenarm--the young widow (and the childless widow) of thegreat iron-master of that name. Birth and fortune--she unitesboth. Her income is a clear ten thousand a year. My father canand will, make it fifteen thousand, if you are lucky enough topersuade her to marry you. My mother answers for her personalqualities. And my wife has met her at our house in London. She isnow, as I hear, staying with some friends in Scotland; and when Iget back I will take care that an invitation is sent to her topay her next visit at my house. It remains, of course, to be seenwhether you are fortunate enough to produce a favorableimpression on her. In the mean time you will be doing every thingthat my father can ask of you, if you make the attempt."

Geoffrey impatiently dismissed that part of the question from allconsideration.

"If she don't cotton to a man who's going to run in the GreatRace at Fulham," he said, "there are plenty as good as she is whowill! That's not the difficulty. Bother _that!_"

"I tell you again, I have nothing to do with your difficulties,"Julius resumed. "Take the rest of the day to consider what I havesaid to you. If you decide to accept the proposal, I shall expectyou to prove you are in earnest by meeting me at the stationto-night. We will travel back to Scotland together. You willcomplete your interrupted visit at Lady Lundie's (it isimportant, in my interests, that you should treat a person of herposition in the county with all due respect); and my wife willmake the necessary arrangements with Mrs. Glenarm, inanticipation of your return to our house. There is nothing moreto be said, and no further necessity of my staying here. If youjoin me at the station to-night, your sister-in-law and I will doall we can to help you. If I travel back to Scotland alone, don'ttrouble yourself to follow--I have done with you." He shook handswith his brother, and went out.

Left alone, Geoffrey lit his pipe and sent for the landlord.

"Get me a boat. I shall scull myself up the river for an hour ortwo. And put in some towels. I may take a swim."

The landlord received the order--with a caution addressed to hisillustrious guest.

"Don't show yourself in front of the house, Sir! If you let thepeople see you, they're in such a state of excitement, the policewon't answer for keeping them in order."

"All right. I'll go out by the back way."

He took a turn up and down the room. What were the difficultiesto be overcome before he could profit by the golden prospectwhich his brother had offered to him? The Sports? No! Thecommittee had promised to defer the day, if he wished it--and amonth's training, in his physical condition, would be amplyenough for him. Had he any personal objection to trying his luckwith Mrs. Glenarm? Not he! Any woman would do--provided hisfather was satisfied, and the money was all right. The obstaclewhich was really in his way was the obstacle of the woman whom hehad ruined. Anne! The one insuperable difficulty was thedifficulty of dealing with Anne.

"We'll see how it looks," he said to himself, "after a pull upthe river!"

The landlord and the police inspector smugled him out by the backway unknown to the expectant populace in front The two men stoodon the river-bank admiring him, as he pulled away from them, withhis long, powerful, easy, beautiful stroke.

"That's what I call the pride and flower of England!" said theinspector. "Has the betting on him begun?"

"Six to four," said the landlord, "and no takers."

Julius went early to the station that night. His mother was veryanxious. "Don't let Geoffrey find an excuse in your example," shesaid, "if he is late."

The first person whom Julius saw on getting out of the carriagewas Geoffrey--with his ticket taken, and his portmanteau incharge of the guard.