several times came near discarding the plan as impracticable. He knew
that he could only have the time after recitations were over for his
own, and that, at the most, would be only an hour or two,--the time
between four o'clock and the supper-hour. He was quite sure that he
was willing to give this time to the Culm children, if it would do any
good, and if a room could be found for them to assemble in. A whole
week of days went by before he mentioned this plan to any one, and
then it was only Dirk to whom he mentioned it. The rough fisherman
looked upon reading and writing as some of the wonderful and
mysterious arts to which dull and humble people like himself had no
right. He looked blank and mystified at Noll's proposition, and
expressed himself thus:--

"I don' know, I don' know, lad,--we but poor folk anyway. But ye ken
do as ye like, an' ef ye say so, the youngsters shall take ter books
an' sech, an' ye ken hev a room where ye say, I'll say fur't. I don'
know, I don' know, lad; ye mus' do as ye think it best, anyway."

CHAPTER XVII.

THE WORK PROGRESSING.

Studies at home progressed steadily under Uncle Richard's supervision,
meanwhile, and that grim gentleman found much more pleasure and
satisfaction in directing his nephew's tasks than he would have been
willing to acknowledge. The boy brought so much brightness and
pleasant life into the gloomy stone house that the stern master, as
week after week passed by, visibly began to lose something of his
grimness and gloominess, and to take something like a faint interest
in what was passing around him. And, after a time, he himself began to
be sensible of this gradual change which was stealing over his
thoughts and actions, and, vexed with himself, strove to check these
new emotions, and wrap himself again in the cloak of sadness and
melancholy which so long had shielded him from everything bright and
cheerful and happy. But he found it hardly an easy task. Noll was
almost always blithe and light-hearted, and Trafford found his bright
influence a hard one to struggle against. He loved the boy so well
that it was almost an impossibility to harden his heart to all his
winning ways and pleasant talk, which met him so constantly, and
these summer days, which Noll found such delight in, were days of
struggle and wavering to his uncle. He could not but acknowledge to
himself that he was interested in all the boy's plans for the
future,--all his youthful ant