so he ought to gain more than a rich idler who
only invests his wealth for an income," replied
Saxon, with a flash of practical good sense that
showed how easily he could master even the
science of money, if he chose to think about it.

Mr. Trefalden was positively startled. He
had so accustomed himself of late to think of
his young kinsman as a mere child in worldly
affairs, that he had, perhaps, insensibly fallen
into the error of under-estimating his abilities.

"There is some truth in what you observe,
Saxon," said he; "but it is a truth that does
not affect the present question. It would take
too long, and lead us too far from the subject in
hand, to go into it philosophically; but you may
rely on my experience when I tell you that, as
a private individual, you have every right to
accept seven and a half per cent, if you can
obtain it with safety. My aim is to ensure you a
liberal income; and if I have been somewhat
tardy about it, you must blame my over-anxiety,
and not my want of zeal."

"Dear cousin William, I have never dreamed
of blaming either!" exclaimed Saxon, warmly.

"I have throughout been keenly sensible of
the responsibility that devolves upon me in this
matter," continued Mr. Trefalden. "And I
confess that, up to the present time, I have been
cautious to timidity."

"I am sure of it—sure of it," said Saxon,
with outstretched hand; " and am so heartily
grateful that I know not in what words to put
all I should like to say."

"I am very glad you place such confidence in
me," replied the lawyer, returning the young
man's cordial grasp; but the voice and the hand
were both cold and unimpulsive.

With this he turned to his papers, placed
them ready for reference, and opened out the
map upon the table. Then he paused, as if
collecting his thoughts upon the subject on
which he was next about to speak. Prompt man
of business as he was, one might almost have
thought that Mr. Trefalden was reluctant to
approach the very topic which he had come all the
way from London to discuss. At length he began.

"Like most cautious persons, Saxon, I am
no friend to speculation; but I do not, like those
who are over-cautious, confound speculation
with enterprise. In England our great public
works are almost invariably originated and
conducted by private bodies; and herein lies the
chief spring of our national prosperity. Enterprise
has made us what we are—mere speculation
would have ruined us. What I have to
propose to you, Saxon, is an enterprise of
extraordinary importance, a gigantic enterprise, as
regards its result, and one of comparatively
trifling magnitude, as regards its cost. But
you must give me all your attention."

"Indeed, I am doing so."

"I need not ask if you know the ordinary
line of route from England to India, by way of
the Mediterranean and the Red Sea?"

"The Overland Route? Certainly—upon the
map."

"And you know the track of our merchant
vessels to India and China, round the Cape of
Good Hope?"

"Undoubtedly."

"Then oblige me by glancing at this map,
and following the line which I have marked upon
it in red ink. It begins, you see, at Dover, and
proceeds by Calais and Marseilles to Alexandria,
where . . . ."

"But I see two red lines crossing the
Mediterranean," interrupted Saxon.

"We will follow this one first. At Alexandria
it joins the railway, is carried across the Isthmus
to Suez, thence traverses the Red Sea to Aden,
and proceeds by the Arabian Sea to Bombay.
This route is the prescriptive property of the
Peninsular and Oriental Steam-packet
Company. Following it one may travel from London
to Bombay in twenty-four days; and we have
hitherto been accustomed to regard the
accomplishment of this fact as one of the triumphs of
modern civilisation."

"And so it is!" exclaimed Saxon.

"Ay, but it costs over a hundred pounds,"
replied. Mr. Trefalden; "and the traveller who
cannot afford so large a fare must go round by
the Cape, and so lose either ninety-four days in a
steamer, or four months in a sailing vessel. Now
look at my other red line, and see where it
departs from the first."

"It passes through the Straits of Messina,
touches at Cyprus instead of at Malta, and
goes direct to Sidon, instead of to Alexandria,"
said Saxon, now both surprised and interested.

"Precisely so; and from Sidon takes an
almost direct course to Palmyra, whence it
follows the valley of the Euphrates, and comes out
upon the Persian Gulf at the point where the
united waters of the Euphrates and Tigris empty
themselves into the sea, one hundred and thirty
miles below Korna."

"And then it goes straight down the Persian
Gulf, and over to Bombay," said Saxon.

Mr. Trefalden looked up with his finger on
the map.

"If," said he, "this line from Sidon to the
sea represented a fine railway, in connexion
with a first-class steam-packet service at either
extremity, which route to India, do you think
you would prefer?"

"This, of course. No man in his senses
could do otherwise. The distance, to begin with,
must be much less."

"About twelve or fourteen hundred miles."

"And then there would be far more of the
journey performed by land—and through what
a land! Palmyra—the plains of Babylon
—Bassora . . . . by Jove! One would make the
journey to India for the mere sake of visiting places
so famous in the history of the ancient world!"

"I confess that I regard this project from a
less archæological point of view," replied Mr.
Trefalden. "Now hear the practical side of it;
and understand that I am giving you only
approximate facts—facts in the rough, before
they have been squared and smoothed by
surveyors and accountants. We calculate that this
line of railway will extend over about seven