He stood looking up at them with his straw hat pushed to the back of his head, and his keen, piercing eyes twinkling kindly under his thick, shaggy eyebrows.
"Well, laddies, you're above me now. 'Tisn't often you can look down at old Principle from such a superior height."
"We want to ask you if we may send Rob down to you for you to teach him to read," said Roy, eagerly.
"And why have not two idle boys more time than a busy shopkeeper to do such a thing?" demanded the old man.
"Oh, well, you see," explained Roy, confusedly; "grown-up people know how to teach, and boys don't. Besides, we aren't idle, we work hard at lessons all the morning, and we have half an hour's prep after tea."
Old Principle shook his head.
"And you're the lad for making people better, and doing good to all. 'Tis a bad principle, my boy, to wait for great opportunities, and let the small ones go!"
"Do you think we ought to teach him?" questioned Dudley.
"If he wants to learn, and you have the time, you will be letting the opportunity slip, that's all. And moreover old Principle isn't going to be the one to help you do it."
The old man turned his back upon them and walked into the pine wood again, leaving the two boys gazing after him with perturbed faces.