I've got no mother, as you know
well, or you wouldn't treat me so."

"You must understand, father," said Sarah Jane, "that things shan't
go on like this. Jones shall have his rights, though he don't
seem half man enough to stand up for them. What's the meaning of
partnership, if nobody's to know where the money goes to?"

"I've worked like a horse," said Jones. "I'm never out of that place
from morning to night,--not so much as to get a pint of beer. And, as
far as I can see, I was better off when I was at Scrimble and Grutts.
I did get my salary regular."

Mr. Brown was at this time in tears, and as he wept he lifted up
hands. "My children, my children!" said he.

"That's all very well, father," said Maryanne. "But whimpering won't
keep anybody's pot a-boiling. I'm sick of this sort of thing, and,
to tell the truth, I think it quite time to see some sort of a house
over my head."

"Would that I could seat you in marble halls!" said George Robinson.

"Oh, bother!" said Maryanne. "That sort of a thing is very good
in a play, but business should be business." It must always be
acknowledged, in favour of Mr. Brown's youngest daughter, that her
views were practical, and not over-strained by romance.

During these two or three months a considerable intimacy sprang up
between Mr. Poppins and George Robinson. It was not that there was
any similarity in their characters, for in most respects they were
essentially unlike each other. But, perhaps, this very difference led
to their friendship. How often may it be observed in the fields that
a high-bred, quick-paced horse will choose some lowly donkey for his
close companionship, although other horses of equal birth and speed
be in the same pasture! Poppins was a young man of an easy nature and
soft temper, who was content to let things pass by him unquestioned,
so long as they passed quietly. Live and let live, were words that
were often on his lips;--by which he intended to signify that he
would overlook the peccadilloes of other people, as long as other
people overlooked his own. When the lady who became afterwards Mrs.
Poppins had once called him a rascal, he had not with loud voice
asserted the injustice of the appellation, but had satisfied himself
with explaining to her that, even were it so, he was still fit for
her society. He possessed a practical philosophy of his own, by
which he was able to steer his course in life. He was not, perhaps,
prepared to give much