Our little boys had been horsed many a day by Mr.
Dempster, their Scotch tutor, in their grandfather's time; and Harry,
especially, had got to be quite accustomed to the practice, and made
very light of it. But, in the interregnum after Colonel Esmond's death,
the cane had been laid aside, and the young gentlemen of Castlewood
had been allowed to have their own way. Her own and her lieutenant's
authority being now spurned by the youthful rebels, the unfortunate
mother thought of restoring it by means of coercion. She took counsel
of Mr. Ward. That athletic young pedagogue could easily find chapter and
verse to warrant the course which he wished to pursue--in fact, there
was no doubt about the wholesomeness of the practice in those clays. He
had begun by flattering the boys, finding a good berth and snug quarters
at Castlewood, and hoping to remain there.

But they laughed at his flattery, they scorned his bad manners, they
yawned soon at his sermons; the more their mother favoured him, the more
they disliked him; and so the tutor and the pupils cordially hated each
other. Mrs. Mountain, who was the boys' friend, especially George's
friend, whom she thought unjustly treated by his mother, warned the lads
to be prudent, and that some conspiracy was hatching against them. "Ward
is more obsequious than ever to your mamma. It turns my stomach, it
does, to hear him flatter, and to see him gobble--the odious wretch! You
must be on your guard, my poor boys--you must learn your lessons, and
not anger your tutor. A mischief will come, I know it will. Your mamma
was talking about you to Mr. Washington the other day, when I came into
the room. I don't like that Major Washington, you know I don't. Don't
say--O Mounty! Master Harry. You always stand up for your friends, you
do. The Major is very handsome and tall, and he may be very good, but he
is much too old a young man for me. Bless you, my dears, the quantity
of wild oats your father sowed and my own poor Mountain when they were
ensigns in Kingsley's, would fill sacks full! Show me Mr. Washington's
wild oats, I say--not a grain! Well, I happened to step in last Tuesday,
when he was here with your mamma; and I am sure they were talking about
you, for he said, 'Discipline is discipline, and must be preserved.
There can be but one command in a house, ma'am, and you must be the
mistress of yours.'"

"The very words he used to me," cries Harry. "He told me that he did not
like to m