the squire and he were alone together, was met by a burst of violence on
his master's part, and a threat that Harry must leave if he ever again
mentioned his old favourite's name to her father. So his lips were
closed, but not his heart; for he waited, watched, and prayed for better
times, even after a still heavier cloud had gathered over the family in
the removal of poor Mrs Huntingdon, and all the love he had to spare
was given to his poor desolate young master, whose spirit had been
crushed to the very dust by the sad withdrawal of his mother and sister
from his earthly home.

Walter too was, of course, grieved at the loss of his sister and mother,
but the blow was far lighter to him than to his brother, partly from his
being of a more lively and elastic temperament, and partly because he
did not, being so young a boy when the sad events took place, so fully
understand as did his elder brother the shame and disgrace which hung
over the family through his sister's heartless and selfish conduct. His
aunt soon came to supply his mother's place, and completely won the
impulsive boy's heart by her untiring and thoughtful affection. And one
lesson he was learning from her, which was at first the strangest and
hardest of lessons to one brought up as he had been, and that was, to
respect the feelings and appreciate, though by very slow degrees, the
character of his brother. His own superiority to Amos he had hitherto
taken as a matter of course and beyond dispute. Everybody allowed it,
except perhaps old Harry; but that, in Walter's eyes, was nothing. Amos
was the eldest son, and heir to the family estate, and therefore the old
butler took to him naturally, and would have done so if he had been a
cow without any brains instead of a human being. So said Walter, and
was quite content that a poor, ignorant fellow like Harry, who could
have no knowledge or understanding of character, should set his regards
on the elder son, and not notice the otherwise universally acknowledged
bodily and intellectual superiority of his more worthy self. No wonder,
then, that pity more than love was the abiding feeling in Walter's heart
towards his less popular and less outwardly attractive brother. And it
was a very strange discovery, and as unwelcome as strange, which his
aunt was now leading him gradually to make spite of himself, that in
real sterling excellence and beauty of character the weight, which he
had hitherto considered to