SONS AND DAUGHTERS
SONS AND DAUGHTERS
A NOVEL
BY
MRS OLIPHANT
SECOND EDITION
WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS
EDINBURGH AND LONDON
MDCCCXCI
{1}
| CHAPTER I., II., III., IV., V., VI., VII., VIII., IX., X. |
SONS AND DAUGHTERS.
CHAPTER I.
“Then you will not take the share in the business which I have offeredyou?”
“No, I think not, sir. I don’t like it. I don’t like the way in which itis worked. It would be entirely out of accordance with all my training.”
“So much the worse for your training—and for you,” said Mr Burton,hastily.
“Well, sir, perhaps so. I feel it’s ungenerous to say that the trainingwas your{2} own choice, not mine. I think it, of course, the best trainingin the world.”
“So it is—so it was when I selected it for you. There’s no harm in thetraining. Few boys come out of it with your ridiculous prejudicesagainst their bread and butter. It’s not the training, it’s you—thatare a fool, Gervase.”
“Perhaps so, sir,” said the young man with great gravity. “I can offerno opinion on that subject.”
The father and son were seated together in a well-furnished library in alarge house in Harley Street—not fashionable, but extremelycomfortable, spacious, expensive, and dignified. It was a library in thetruest sense of the word, and not merely the “gentleman’s room” in whichthe male portion of a family takes refuge.{3} There was an excellentcollection of books on the shelves that lined the walls, a few goodpictures, a bust or two placed high on the tops of the bookcases. Itbore signs, besides, of constant occupation, and of being, in short, theroom in which its present occupants lived—which was the fact. They wereall their family. Mrs Burton had died years before, and her husband hadafter her death lived only for his boy and—his business. The latterdevotion kept everything that was sentimental out of the former. He wasvery kind and indulgent to Gervase, and gave him the ideal Englisheducation—the education of an English gentleman: five or six years atEton, three or four at Oxford. He intended to do, and did, his son“every justice.” Expense had{4} never been spared in any way. Though hedid not himself care for shooting, he had taken a moor in the Highlandsfor several successive seasons, in order that his boy should be familiarwith that habit of the higher classes. Though he hated travelling, hehad gone abroad for the same purpose. Gervase had never been stinted inanything: he had a good allowance, rooms handsomely furnished, horses athis disposal, everything that heart could desire. And he on his part haddone all that could be desired or expected from a young man. If he hadnot electrified his tutors and masters, he