“If you please, miss,” said Jael, “is he a real working man, or only a gentleman as makes it his pastime?”
“A gentleman! What an idea! Of course he is a working man. But a very superior person.”
“To be sure,” continued Jael, not quite convinced, “he don't come up to Squire Raby; but, dear heart, he have a grander way with him than most of the Hillsborough gentlefolks as calls here.”
“Nonsense!” said Grace, authoritatively. “Look at his nails.”
Henry came twice a week, and his pupil made remarkable progress. She was deferential, attentive, enthusiastic.
By degrees the work led to a little conversation; and that, in due course, expanded into a variety of subjects; and the young lady, to her surprise, found her carver well-read in History and Sciences, and severely accurate in his information, whereas her own, though abundant, was rather loose.
One day she expressed her surprise that he could have found time to be so clever with his fingers and yet cultivate his mind.
“Well,” said he, “I was lucky enough to have a good mother. She taught me all she knew, and she gave me a taste for reading; and that has been the making of me; kept me out of the public-house, for one thing.”
“Ah! you WERE fortunate. I lost my mother, sir, when I was but eight years old.”
“Oh dear, that was a bad job,” said Henry brusquely but kindly.