every hand, save that of Uncle George and Molly the maid, raised
against me.

"Now, Martin," said my uncle, when he informed me of the result of the
family council held on my case, "as I'm only a poor man, I'm straining a
point and crippling my means in order to send you to school; but I am
doing it so that you may be educated to earn your own living, which
you'll have to do as soon as the three years expire for which I have
contracted with Dr Hellyer; after that it will be out of my power to do
anything further for you."

"All right, uncle," said I, buoyantly, so carried away with excitement
at the news that I almost felt kindly disposed towards my aunt, who was
standing by, although she tried to damp my spirits as much as in her
lay.

"You are only throwing away your money, George," she remarked acidly to
my uncle. "He has always shown an ungrateful, thankless disposition;
and his bad, undutiful temper will be certain to bring him to ruin!"

"Let us hope not," replied uncle, placidly. He was a quiet, easy-going
business man, employed in the City, and used to let things quietly take
their own course, except when sometimes they touched him too keenly to
be left unnoticed. He then went on addressing me:

"You will have to be steady and diligent, making the most of your time;
and the master will report to me every quarter as to your conduct and
zeal in learning."

"Nice reports they'll be!" interposed my aunt, mockingly.

"Well, well," hurriedly concluded Uncle George, to get the thing ended
as soon as possible. "Your fortune is all in your own hands, and I hope
and trust, if only for your father's sake, you will turn out well!
Remember, that if Dr Hellyer gives a good general report of you at the
end of your three years' term, I'll try to get you into a City warehouse
or office; but if you behave badly, why, you'll have to shift for
yourself, and go your own course, as I shall wash my hands of you!"

There the conversation ended, with an intimation that I was to go to Dr
Hellyer's school in three days' time.

The interval passed like a whirlwind to me; for not only were my
thoughts full of the new life on which I was entering, but there was in
addition the very unusual bustle attendant on my being provided with a
wardrobe--I for whom anything had been good enough before! My uncle,
however, had now made it a _sine qua non_ that I should be fitted out
properly with decent clothes, and, consequently, my aunt