no provision for his early death, and had left his wife
and two children almost penniless. Mr. Bale had at once taken
charge of them, and had made his sister an allowance that enabled
her to live very comfortably. She had remained in Plymouth, as she
had many friends there.

Her daughter Carrie--who was six years older than Bob--had, four
years before, married Gerald O'Halloran, who was then a lieutenant
in the 58th Regiment, which was in garrison there. He had a small
income, derived from an estate in Ireland, besides his pay; but the
young couple would have been obliged to live very economically, had
it not been for the addition of the money settled on her by her
uncle.

Her mother had died, a few months after the marriage; and Mr. Bale
had at once placed Bob at the school, at Putney; and had announced
his intention of taking him, in due time, into his business. The
boy always spent one half of his holidays with his uncle, the other
with his sister. The former had been a trial, both to him and to
Mr. Bale. They saw but little of each other; for Mr. Bale, who,
like most business men of the time, lived over his offices, went
downstairs directly he had finished his breakfast, and did not come
up again until his work was over when, at five o'clock, he dined.
The meal over, he sometimes went out to the houses of friends, or
to the halls of one or other of the city companies to which he
belonged.

While Bob was with him, he told off one of the foremen in his
business to go about with the boy. The days, therefore, passed
pleasantly, as they generally went on excursions by water up or
down the river or, sometimes, when it was not otherwise required,
in a light cart used in the business, to Epping or Hainault Forest.
Bob was expected to be back to dinner and, thanks to the
foreman--who knew that his employer would not tolerate the smallest
unpunctuality--he always succeeded in getting back in time to wash
and change his clothes for dinner.

The meal was a very solemn one, Mr. Bale asking occasional
questions, to which Bob returned brief answers. Once or twice the
boy ventured upon some lively remark, but the surprise and
displeasure expressed in his uncle's face, at this breach of the
respectful silence then generally enforced upon the young, in the
presence of their elders, deterred him from often trying the
experiment.

Mr. Bale was as much bored as was Bob by these meals, and the
evenings that sometimes followed t