, along with the keeper's boy and me; while, if Miss
Smedley walked with any one, it would appear to have been with Uncle
George.

But despicable as his conduct had been, he underwent no hasty
condemnation. The defection was discussed in all its bearings, but it
seemed sadly clear at last that this uncle must possess some innate
badness of character and fondness for low company. We who from daily
experience knew Miss Smedley like a book--were we not only too
well aware that she had neither accomplishments nor charms, no
characteristic, in fact, but an inbred viciousness of temper and
disposition? True, she knew the dates of the English kings by heart; but
how could that profit Uncle George, who, having passed into the army,
had ascended beyond the need of useful information? Our bows and arrows,
on the other hand, had been freely placed at his disposal; and a soldier
should not have hesitated in his choice a moment. No: Uncle George had
fallen from grace, and was unanimously damned. And the non-arrival
of the Himalayan rabbits was only another nail in his coffin. Uncles,
therefore, were just then a heavy and lifeless market, and there was
little inclination to deal. Still it was agreed that Uncle William, who
had just returned from India, should have as fair a trial as the others;
more especially as romantic possibilities might well be embodied in one
who had held the gorgeous East in fee.

Selina had kicked my shins--like the girl she is!--during a scuffle in
the passage, and I was still rubbing them with one hand when I found
that the uncle-on-approbation was half-heartedly shaking the other. A
florid, elderly man, and unmistakably nervous, he dropped our grimy
paws in succession, and, turning very red, with an awkward simulation of
heartiness, "Well, h' are y' all?" he said, "Glad to see me, eh?" As we
could hardly, in justice, be expected to have formed an opinion on him
at that early stage, we could but look at each other in silence; which
scarce served to relieve the tension of the situation. Indeed, the cloud
never really lifted during his stay. In talking it over later, some
one put forward the suggestion that he must at some time or other have
committed a stupendous crime; but I could not bring myself to believe
that the man, though evidently unhappy, was really guilty of anything;
and I caught him once or twice looking at us with evident kindliness,
though seeing himself observed, he blushed and turned away h