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Rh had no objection, to be one, too; and Fanny acquiesced willingly in his choice. It obviated the necessity of his going to college, which she much feared she might not be able to accomplish; and would remove him very much from Gaveston's path, which, greatly as she grieved herself to part with him, she saw was necessary for all parties.

One day at dinner, shortly after this decision, the conversation happening to turn on the army, Harry said that he hoped he should be a captain as young as his papa had been, for that it was when he was only nineteen, "and as I am only fifteen now," he added, "if I get my commission soon, perhaps I may."

"I hope you will, Harry," said Mrs. Gaveston. "I should like to see you with an epaulet on your shoulder."

"How can you fill that chap's head with such absurd notions, Mrs. Gaveston?" asked her husband. "How's he to get a commission?"

"By purchasing it, I suppose," replied Fanny; "I fear there's not much chance of getting one without."

"About as much chance as there is of getting one with, I fancy," returned Gaveston. "But it's really high time this sort of nonsense was