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100 his travels, when he presented himself to Sir Aubrey, he still, in approaching him, felt anxiety and dread. His polished exterior and travelled ease, however, were not obscured by the restraint he laboured under, and were perceived by his father with a feeling of gratification that mingled with his usual cold severity of aspect, and softened those harsh reflections he was ever inclined to pass upon his person, which, though but little beneath the ordinary height, still lost when contrasted with Sir Aubrey's lofty and superior stature.

The worldly parent estimated his son by his own standard; and his self-love would have been gratified, had the sapling of his rearing, in its progression to maturity, resembled more the stately trunk whence it had derived its origin. Nevertheless, Sir Aubrey hoped his son would, with an undeviating exactitude, pursue the path he had traced out for him; that path, in treading which he was to seek for the advantages and preferments of fortune only—to be, as himself, a courtier—to renounce and sacrifice every latent spring of youth, and every inclination and affection of his heart.

To act up to these cold and selfish maxims of ambition De Brooke found impossible; foreign, indeed, would have been such a conduct to the fervent bent of his feelings. Nevertheless, the plans