ABSTRACT
It was a gusty, wild, and cloudy morning at Faldon some days later, and Hurstmanceaux sat in his library reading a communication which he had received from the head of the Government. The epistle, which was written by the premier himself, offered him the governorship of a very important colony. The letter was extremely complimentary, and there was no possible reason to doubt its sincerity. It urged upon him the sacrifice of his independence to the welfare of his country, and hinted that as years passed on it became time to abandon certain eccentricities of opinion and habits of isolation. Hurstmanceaux read it with the attention which the position of its writer demanded; but he did not waste many minutes in its consideration. It was not the first time that such offers had been pressed on him. The independence of his character was so well known, and his principles so much respected by all men, that his accession to the governing ranks would have been an increase of strength to those who were in office. But they had never been able to tempt him to forsake private for public life. He now wrote a very courteous but most decided refusal, expressing his sense of the compliment paid to him, sealed it with his signet ring, and sat still awhile at his writing-table thinking.
