Roger--a raw country boy, as the reader by this time will admit--found himself entered upon a gay round of club and Bohemian life, which to an old stager like the captain may have seemed a little slow, but to a susceptible youth was decidedly attractive.

The guardian's fast acquaintances made the young heir of Maxfield welcome, and might have proceeded to pluck him had his protector permitted.
Roger speedily discovered what hundreds of locks there are which the mere rumour of money will unlock.

He had never had such an idea of his own importance before, and for a short time he deluded himself into the belief that his popularity was due wholly and solely to his personal merits.
Captain Oliphant fostered this delusion carefully.
"I hope you are enjoying yourself, my dear boy," he would say, after a particularly festive evening.
"It's an excellent rule to make oneself agreeable in all circumstances.
I envy you your facility.

You see how it is appreciated.

It does an old fogey like me good to see you enjoy yourself." "It was a pleasant enough evening," said Roger, not quite without misgivings on the subject, however.
"By the way, who was the man, older than the others, who talked loudest and not always in the most classical English ?" The captain laughed pleasantly.
"No.