e degree a man
of the world, can give, will be always at your service."

"You are very good," Mrs. Sankey murmured. "It is indeed a
responsibility. My younger boy and girl are all that I could wish, but
the elder is already almost beyond me;" and by the shake of her head she
testified that her troubles on that score approached martyrdom.

"Never fear, my dear madam," Mr. Mulready said heartily. "Boys will be
boys, and I doubt not that he will grow up everything that you could
desire. I may have heard that he was a little passionate. There was a
trifling affair between him and his schoolmaster, was there not? But
these things mend themselves, and doubtless all will come well in time;
and now I have the honor of wishing you good morning."

"Charming manners!" Mrs. Sankey said to herself when her visitor had
left. "A little old fashioned, perhaps, but so kind and deferential. He
seemed to understand my feelings exactly."

That evening when they were at tea Mrs. Sankey mentioned the agreeable
visitor who had called in the afternoon.

"What! William Mulready!" Ned exclaimed; "Foxey, as his hands call him.
I have heard Bill speak of him often. His men hate him. They say he is a
regular tyrant. What impudence his coming here!"

"Ned, I am surprised at you," his mother said angrily. "I am sure Mr.
Mulready is nothing of the sort. He is a most kind and considerate
gentleman, and I will not allow you to repeat these things you hear from
the low companions whom your father permitted you to associate with."

"Bill is not a low companion, mother," Ned exclaimed passionately. "A
better fellow never stood, and Foxey is not kind and considerate. He is
a brutal tyrant, and I am sure my father, if you will quote his opinion,
would not have had such a man inside his doors."

"Leave the room, Ned, this moment," his mother exclaimed, more angry
than he had ever seen her before. "I am ashamed of you speaking to me in
that way. You would not have dared to do it had your father been alive."

Ned dashed down his scarcely begun bread and butter and flung himself
out of the room, and then out of the house, and it was some hours before
he returned. Then he went straight up to his mother's room.

"I beg your pardon, mother," he said quietly. "I am very sorry I spoke
as I did. I ought not to have done so."

"Very well," Mrs. Sankey said coldly; "then don't do it again, Ned."

Without another word Ned went off to his books. He was grieved