's. Besides, I believe it was half depression
and want of heart to exert himself, when there was no one to care for
him; and he certainly had not been taught either self-respect, or to
think cleanliness next to godliness.'

'Poor lad--no,' said Mrs. King; 'nor I don't think he'd do it again, and
I trust he'll never be so lost again.'

'Lost, and found,' said Mr. Cope gravely. 'Another thing I was going to
say was, that this irreverent economy of the Guardians, in allowing no
lesson-books but the Bible, seems to have, after all, been blest to him
in his knowledge of it, like an antidote to the evil the master poured
in.'

'Yes, Sir,' said Mrs. King, 'just so; only he says, that though he liked
it, because, poor lad, there was nothing else that seemed to him to speak
kind or soft, he never knew how much it was meant for him, nor it didn't
seem to touch him home till he came to you, Sir.'

Mr. Cope half turned away. His bright eyes had something very like a
tear in them, for hardly anything could have been said to make the young
clergyman so happy, as to tell him that any work of his should be
blessed; but he went on talking quickly, to say that the chaplain gave a
still worse account of Alcock than Paul's had been, saying that some
gentlemen who had newly become Guardians at the time of the inspector's
visit, had taken up the matter, and had been perfectly shocked at the
discoveries they had made about the man to whom the poor children had
been entrusted.

On his dismissal, some of the old set, who were all for cheapness, had
talked of letting young Blackthorn act as school-master; but as he was so
very young, and had been brought up by this wretched man, the gentlemen
would not hear of it; and as they could not afford to accept the
inspector's offer of recommending him to a government school, he had been
sent out in quest of employment, as being old enough to provide for
himself. Things had since, the chaplain said, been put on a much better
footing, and he himself had much more time to attend to the inmates. As
to Paul, he was glad to hear that he was in good hands; he said he had
always perceived him to be a very clever boy, and knew no harm of him but
that he was a favourite with Alcock, which he owned had made him very
glad to get him out of the House, lest he should carry on the mischief.

Mr. Cope and Mrs. King were both of one mind, that this was hard measure.
So it was. Man's measure always is either