he Public School were you in when you left?" The
blue eyes of the boss was "borin' 'oles" through Sam and the voice
pierced like a "bleedin' gimblet," as Wigglesworth, Sr., reported to his
spouse that afternoon.

Sam hesitated a bare second. "Fourth grade it was," he said with sullen
reluctance.

"'Adn't no chance, Samuel 'adn't. Been a delicate child ever since 'is
mother stopped suckin' 'im," explained the father with a sympathetic
shake of his head.

The cold blue eye appraised the boy's hulking mass.

"'E don't look it," continued Mr. Wigglesworth, noting the keen glance,
"but 'e's never been (h)able to bide steady at the school. (H)It's 'is
brain, sir."

"His--ah--brain?" Again the blue eyes appraised the boy, this time
scanning critically his face for indication of undue brain activity.

"'Is brain, sir," earnestly reiterated the sympathetic parent. "'Watch
that (h)infant's brain,' sez the Doctor to the missus when she put 'im
on the bottle. And you know, we 'ave real doctors in (H)England, sir.
'Watch 'is brain,' sez 'e, and, my word, the care 'is ma 'as took
of that boy's brain is wunnerful, is fair beautiful, sir." Mr.
Wigglesworth's voice grew tremulous at the remembrance of that maternal
solicitude.

"And was that why he left school?" enquired the boss.

"Well, sir, not (h)exackly," said Mr. Wigglesworth, momentarily taken
aback, "though w'en I comes to think on it that must a been at the
bottom of it. You see, w'en Samuel went at 'is books of a night 'e'd no
more than begin at a sum an' 'e'd say to 'is ma, 'My brain's a-whirlin',
ma', just like that, and 'is ma would 'ave to pull 'is book away, just
drag it away, you might say. Oh, 'e's 'ad a 'ard time, 'as Samuel." At
this point the boss received a distinct shock, for, as his eyes were
resting upon Samuel's face meditatively while he listened somewhat
apathetically, it must be confessed, to the father's moving tale, the
eye of the boy remote from the father closed in a slow but significant
wink.

The boss sat up, galvanised into alert attention. "Eh? What?" he
exclaimed.

"Yes, sir, 'e's caused 'is ma many a (h)anxious hour, 'as Samuel." Again
the eye closed in a slow and solemn wink. "And we thought, 'is ma and
me, that we would like to get Samuel into some easy job--"

"An easy job, eh?"

"Yes, sir. Something in the office, 'ere."

"But his brain, you say, would not let him study his books."

"Oh, it was them sums, sir, an' the Jography