"Sybil has an English
heart, and that's not easily broken. And you, comrade, you
are a traveller in these parts, eh?"
"A kind of traveller; something in the way of your friend
Morley--connected with the press."
"Indeed! a reporter, eh? I thought you had something about
you a little more knowing than we provincials."
"Yes; a reporter; they want information in London as to the
real state of the country, and this time of the year,
Parliament not sitting--"Ah; I understand, a flying commission
and a summer tour. Well, I often wish I were a penman; but I
never could do it. I'll read any day as long as you like, but
that writing, I could never manage. My friend Morley is a
powerful hand at it. His journal circulates a good deal about
here; and if as I often tell him he would only sink his high-
flying philosophy and stick to old English politics, he might
make a property of it. You'll like to know him?"
"Much."
"And what first took you to the press, if I may ask!"
"Why--my father was a gentleman--, said Egremont in a
hesitating tone, "and I was a younger son."
"Ah!" said Gerard, "that is as bad as being a woman."
"I had no patrimony," continued Egremont, "and I was obliged
to work; I had no head I believe for the law; the church was
not exactly in my way; and as for the army, how was I to
advance without money or connexions! I had had some
education, and so I thought I would turn it to account.
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