the elder, concentrating his strong steady brow upon him and smiling confidently, "leave that to me, and let me try."
George shakes his head. "You could do it, I have not a doubt, if anybody could; but it's not to be done. Not to be done, sir! Whereas it so falls out, on the other hand, that I am able to be of some trifle of use to Sir Leicester Dedlock since his illness — brought on by family sorrows — and that he would rather have that help from our mother's son than from anybody else."
"Well, my dear George," returns the other with a very slight shade upon his open face, "if you prefer to serve in Sir Leicester Dedlock's household brigade — "
"There it is, brother," cries the trooper, checking him, with his hand upon his knee again; "there