If he made a fair use of his opportunities in China, he would
come back, while still a young man, fit for a position of trust and
emolument, and justified in looking forward, at no distant date, to a
time when the House would assist him to start in business for himself.
Such were the new prospects which--to adopt Mr. Clare's theory--now
forced themselves on the ever-reluctant, ever-helpless and
ever-ungrateful Frank. There was no time to be lost. The final answer
was to be at the office on "Monday, the twentieth": the correspondents
in China were to be written to by the mail on that day; and Frank was
to follow the letter by the next opportunity, or to resign his chance in
favor of some more enterprising young man.
Mr. Clare's reception of this extraordinary news was startling in the
extreme. The glorious prospect of his son's banishment to China appeared
to turn his brain. The firm pedestal of his philosophy sank under him;
the prejudices of society recovered their hold on his mind. He seized
Frank by the arm, and actually accompanied him to Combe-Raven, in the
amazing character of visitor to the house!
"Here I am with my lout," said Mr. Clare, before a word could be uttered
by the astonished family.
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