jects. Whenever he
could get away into the fields he was happy; to lie still for hours
watching some wild thing, noting its features and its ways, seemed to him
perfect enjoyment. His treasure was a collection, locked in a cupboard at
home, of eggs, skeletons, butterflies, beetles, and I know not what. His
father regarded all this as harmless amusement, his mother contemptuously
tolerated it or, in worse humour, condemned it as waste of time. When at
school the boy had frequent opportunities of pursuing his study, for he was
in mid country and could wander as he liked on free afternoons; but neither
the headmaster nor his assistant thought it worth while to pay heed to
Humplebee's predilection. True, it had been noticed more than once that in
writing an 'essay' he showed unusual observation of natural things; this,
however, did not strike his educators as a matter of any importance; it was
not their business to discover what Humplebee could do, and wished to do,
but to make him do things they regarded as desirable. Humplebee was marked
for commerce; he must study compound interest, and be strong at discount.
Yet the boy loathed every such mental effort, and the name of 'business'
made him sick at heart.

How he longed to unbosom himself to his father! And in the first week of
his holiday he had a chance of doing so, a wonderful chance, such as had
never entered his dreams. The town possessed a museum of Natural History,
where, of course, Harry had often spent leisure hours. Half a year ago a
happy chance had brought him into conversation with the curator, who could
not but be struck by the lad's intelligence, and who took an interest in
him. Now they met again; they had one or two long talks, with the result
that, on a Sunday afternoon, the curator of the museum took the trouble to
call upon Mr. Humplebee, to speak with him about his son. At the museum was
wanted a lad with a taste for natural history, to perform at first certain
easy duties, with the prospect of further advancement here or elsewhere. It
seemed to the curator that Harry was the very boy for the place; would Mr.
Humplebee like to consider this suggestion? Now, if it had been made to him
half a year ago, such an offer would have seemed to Mr. Humplebee well
worth consideration, and he knew that Harry would have heard of it with
delight; as it was, he could not entertain the thought for a moment.

Impossible to run the risk of offending Mr. Chadwick; moreov