Amelius
stopped and turned round, smiling grimly. He was in such a reckless
humour, that he was even ready to divert his mind by astonishing a
footman. "Richard," he said, "are you engaged to be married?" Richard
stared in blank surprise at the strange question--and modestly admitted
that he was engaged to marry the housemaid next door. "Soon?" asked
Amelius, swinging his stick. "As soon as I have saved a little more
money, sir." "Damn the money!" cried Amelius--and struck his stick on
the pavement, and walked away with a last look at the house as if he
hated the sight of it. Richard watched the departing young gentleman,
and shook his head ominously as he shut the door.
CHAPTER 2
Amelius went straight back to the cottage, with the one desperate
purpose of reverting to the old plan, and burying himself in his books.
Surveying his well-filled shelves with an impatience unworthy of a
scholar, Hume's "History of England" unhappily caught his eye. He took
down the first volume. In less than half an hour he discovered that
Hume could do nothing for him. Wisely inspired, he turned to the truer
history next, which men call fiction.
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