had much of
the bearing and appearance of an English public-school boy. His mother
had been very particular in seeing that his manners were those of an
Englishman.

"I hope the time will come when you will associate with English
gentlemen, and I should wish you, in all respects, to be like them. You
belong to a good family; and should you, by any chance, some day go
home, you must do credit to your dear father."

The boy had, for some years, been acquainted with the family story,
except that he did not know the name he bore was his father's Christian
name, and not that of his family.

"My grandfather must have been a very bad man, Mother, to have
quarreled with my father for marrying you."

"Well, my boy, you hardly understand the extent of the exclusiveness of
some Englishmen. Of course, it is not always so, but to some people,
the idea of their sons or daughters marrying into a family of less rank
than themselves appears to be an almost terrible thing. As I have told
you, although the daughter of a clergyman, I was, when I became an
orphan, obliged to go out as a governess."

"But there was no harm in that, Mother?"

"No harm, dear; but a certain loss of position. Had my father been
alive, and had I been living with him in a country rectory, your
grandfather might not have been pleased at your father's falling in
love with me, because he would probably have considered that, being, as
you know by his photograph, a fine, tall, handsome man, and having the
best education money could give him, he might have married very much
better; that is to say, the heiress of a property, or into a family of
influence, through which he might have been pushed on; but he would not
have thought of opposing the marriage on the ground of my family. But a
governess is a different thing. She is, in many cases, a lady in every
respect, but her position is a doubtful one.

"In some families she is treated as one of themselves. In others, her
position is very little different from that of an upper servant. Your
grandfather was a passionate man, and a very proud man. Your father's
elder brother was well provided for, but there were two sisters, and
these and your father he hoped would make good marriages. He lived in
very good style, but your uncle was extravagant, and your grandfather
was over indulgent, and crippled himself a good deal in paying the
debts that he incurred. It was natural, therefore, that he should have
objected to you