reading make one a lady, grampa?"

"No, Aggie, not by itself, but with other things."

"And when I am quite grown up and big, and know how to read nicely,
shall I be able to go with you again?"

"We will see about that, Aggie, when the time comes. There is plenty of
time yet to think about that."

"But I am getting on very fast, grampa, and the lady says I am a good
girl. So it won't be such a very long time before I can leave."

"It will be some time, yet. You have only got to read little words yet,
but there are lots of long words which you will come to presently. But
Mrs. Walsham tells me that you are getting on nicely, and that you are
a very good girl, which pleases me very much; and when I am walking
along with my box, I shall like to be able to think of you as being
quite comfortable and happy."

"And I go walks with Jim, grampa, and Jim has made me a boat, and he
says someday, when it is very fine and quiet, he will take me out in a
big boat, like that boat, you know; and he is going to ask you if he
may, for the lady said I must not go out with him till he has asked
you. And he said he won't let me tumble over, and I am going to sit
quite, quite still."

"Yes, Aggie, I don't see any harm in your going out with him. I am sure
he will only take you when it is fine, and he will look after you well.
You like him, don't you?"

"Oh! I do, grampa; and you know, it was him who got me out of the
water, else I should never have come out, and never have seen grampa
again; and he has made me a boat. Oh! yes, I do like him!"

"That's right, my dear; always stick to those who are good to you."

A few days after this, as James was sailing the toy boat, for Aggie's
amusement, in a pool, a boy sauntered up. He was somewhat taller than
James Walsham, and at least two years older. He was well dressed, and
James knew him as the nephew and heir of the squire.

It was not often that Richard Horton came down into the village. He was
accustomed to be treated with a good deal of deference at the Hall, and
to order servants and grooms about pretty much as he chose, and the
indifference with which the fisher boys regarded him offended him
greatly. He was a spoilt boy. His uncle had a resident tutor for him,
but the selection had been a bad one. The library was large and good,
the tutor fond of reading, and he was content to let the boy learn as
little as he chose, providing that he did not trouble him. As to any
instruction