“I hope, George,” said the earl, as they rose from the table, “that you have the excellent habit of learning something every day. As a beginning, you may have Lance’s services every morning for two hours to teach you fencing--not only with the rapier, but the sword-exercise on horseback and afoot. It is not only well for you, as you intend entering a military life, to know this, but it is the finest exercise possible for the muscles and the eye, and also in the art of keeping one’s temper. I shall expect you to become proficient in this noble art.”