ch he spoke. Not that I wanted to be bad friends with Bob Chowne;
but I knew that he was only in one of his "stickly" fits, as we used to
call them, and that it would soon be over.

"Very well, eh?" exclaimed Bob. "Oh, if you choose to prefer his
society to mine, Good morning."

He walked off with his nose in the air, and, half annoyed, half amused,
I went over the hill to the mine, where my father was busily examining
some specimens of the lead that had been cut off the corners of some
newly-cast ingots.

"Well, Sep," he said. "Coming to help?"

I replied that I was, somewhat unwillingly, for I had caught sight of
Bigley coming up the valley, and I wanted to join him, and try and show
that I did not intend to give up an old school friend because his
father's name was often on people's lips.

"Who's that you are looking for?" said my father.

"Only young Uggleston, father," I said.

I looked at him intently and felt troubled, for he frowned a little,
and, before I knew what I was saying, the words slipped:

"You don't mind Bigley Uggleston coming here, do you, father?"

"Yes--no," he said, sitting up up very stiffly. "I don't like your
giving up old companions, Sep, or seeming to be proud; but there are
beginning to be reasons why you should not be quite so intimate with
young Uggleston."

"Oh, father!" I exclaimed dolefully. "Why, I thought that you and old
Uggleston were good friends now."

"Oh, yes; the best of friends," said my father sarcastically. "He pays
his rent regularly, and we always speak civilly to each other when we
meet."

As he spoke there was a look in his face which seemed to say, "We don't
like each other all the same."

"Look here, Sep," continued my father. "You are getting a big fellow
now, and I am going to speak very plainly to you; of course, you
understand that this is in confidence; it is quite private."

"Yes, father," I said sadly.

"Then you must understand that, though Jonas Uggleston is my tenant
here, he is not a very satisfactory one, for there can be no doubt that
he carries on rather a risky trade; but, so long as the authorities do
not interfere with him, and he behaves himself, I am not going to take
upon myself the task of being his judge."

"No, father."

"At the same time I cannot be intimate with him. I don't like him, and
I don't like the companions who come over from Stinchcombe to man his
lugger, and I'll tell you why. Do you know that, now th