u're too hard upon them, Robert," said Mrs Burnet, laying her arm on
her son's shoulder. "It does not matter out in this wild place, where
there is no one to see him but the fishing people; and see what a
healthy, natural life it is for them."

"Healthy! natural!" cried the Doctor sharply. "So you want to see him
grow up into a sort of Peter the Wild Boy, madam?"

"No," said Mrs Burnet, exchanging an affectionate glance with her
sun-tanned son. "Peter the Wild Boy did not have a college tutor to
teach him the classics, did he, Vince?"

"No, mother; he must have been a lucky fellow," said the boy, laughing.

"For shame, Vincent!" cried Mrs Burnet, shaking her head at the boy
reprovingly. "You do not mean that."

"I believe he does," said the Doctor angrily. "I won't have any more of
it. He neglects his studies shamefully."

"No, no, indeed, dear," cried Mrs Burnet. "You don't know how hard he
works."

"Oh yes, I do: at egging, climbing, fishing, and swimming. I'll have no
more of it; he shall go over to some big school in Germany, where
they'll bring him to his senses."

"I do everything Mr Deane sets me to do, father," said the boy; "and I
do try hard."

"Yes--to break your neck or drown yourself. Look here, sir, when are
you going to pay me my bill?"

"Your bill, father? I don't know what you mean."

"Surgical attendance in mending your broken leg. That's been owing two
years."

"When my ship comes in, father," cried Vince, laughing.

"But, I say, don't send me to a big school, father. I like being here
so much."

"Yes: to waste the golden moments of boyhood, sir."

"But I don't, father," cried Vince. "I really do work hard at
everything Mr Deane sets me, and get it all done before I go out. He
never finds fault."

"Bah! You're getting too big to think of going out to play with Mike
Ladelle."

"But you said, father, that you liked to see a fellow work hard at play
as well as study, and that `all work and no play made Jack a dull boy.'"

"Jack!" cried the Doctor, with his face wrinkling up, as he tried to
look very severe. "Yes Jack. But you're not Jack: he was some common
fisherman's or miner's boy, not the son of a medical man--a gentleman.
There, go and dress that wound in his trousers, my dear."

"And you won't send me off to school, father? I do like private study
at home so much better!"

"Humph! I don't know whether you're aware of it, sir, but you've got a
very fooli