“My friend is a gentleman,” was the timid reply. (Juveniles have a pomposity all their own, and exquisitely delicious.*) “We read together because we like one another, and that is why we walk together and play together; if we were to offer him money he would throw it at our heads.” Mr. Arthur then relaxed his severity, and, condescending once more to the familiar, added: “And he has made me a kite on mathematical principles—such a whacker—those in the shops are no use; and he has sent his mother's Bath chair on to the downs, and he is going to show me the kite draw him ten knots an hour in it—a knot means a mile, Lucy—so I can't stay wasting my time here; only, if you want to see some fun for once in your lives, come on the downs in about an hour—will you? Oh yes! do come!”
* Read the Oxford Essays.
“Certainly not,” said Mrs. Bazalgette, sharply.
“Excuse us, dear,” said Lucy in the same breath.
“Well, Lucy,” said Mrs. Bazalgette, “am I wrong about your uncle's selfishness! I have tried in vain ever since I came here to make you see it where you were the only sufferer.”
“Not quite in vain, aunt,” said Lucy sadly; “you have shown me defects in my poor uncle that I should never have discovered.”
Mrs. Bazalgette smiled grimly.
“Only, as you hate him, and I love him, and always mean to love him, permit me to call his defects 'thought-lessness.' You can apply the harsh term 'selfish-ness' to the most good-natured, kind, indulgent—oh!”
“Ha! ha! Don't cry, you silly girl. Thoughtless? a calculating old goose, who is eternally aiming to be a fox—never says or does anything without meaning something a mile off. Luckily, his veil is so thin that everybody sees through it but you. What do you think of his thought-less-ness in getting a tutor gratis? Poor Mr. Dodd!”
“I will answer for it, it is a pleasure to Mr. Dodd to be of service to his little friend,” said Lucy, warmly.