ing at majority he would come into a few
thousands. They might surely have been trusted to have their boy's
interests at heart, and must be better judges of those interests than he,
at twenty-one, could be expected to be: besides if Jonadab, the son of
Rechab's father--or perhaps it might be simpler under the circumstances
to say Rechab at once--if Rechab, then, had left handsome legacies to his
grandchildren--why Jonadab might not have found those children so easy to
deal with, etc. "My dear," said Theobald, after having discussed the
matter with Christina for the twentieth time, "my dear, the only thing to
guide and console us under misfortunes of this kind is to take refuge in
practical work. I will go and pay a visit to Mrs Thompson."

On those days Mrs Thompson would be told that her sins were all washed
white, etc., a little sooner and a little more peremptorily than on
others.

CHAPTER XXII

I used to stay at Battersby for a day or two sometimes, while my godson
and his brother and sister were children. I hardly know why I went, for
Theobald and I grew more and more apart, but one gets into grooves
sometimes, and the supposed friendship between myself and the Pontifexes
continued to exist, though it was now little more than rudimentary. My
godson pleased me more than either of the other children, but he had not
much of the buoyancy of childhood, and was more like a puny, sallow
little old man than I liked. The young people, however, were very ready
to be friendly.

I remember Ernest and his brother hovered round me on the first day of
one of these visits with their hands full of fading flowers, which they
at length proffered me. On this I did what I suppose was expected: I
inquired if there was a shop near where they could buy sweeties. They
said there was, so I felt in my pockets, but only succeeded in finding
two pence halfpenny in small money. This I gave them, and the
youngsters, aged four and three, toddled off alone. Ere long they
returned, and Ernest said, "We can't get sweeties for all this money" (I
felt rebuked, but no rebuke was intended); "we can get sweeties for this"
(showing a penny), "and for this" (showing another penny), "but we cannot
get them for all this," and he added the halfpenny to the two pence. I
suppose they had wanted a twopenny cake, or something like that. I was
amused, and left them to solve the difficulty their own way, being
anxious to see what they would