'Not kindness, but common propriety, to come and see how much mischief my naughty child had done.'
'I don't think there's any real mischief,' said the elder brother, looking at the much-refreshed face.
'I think not, and so am free to be glad of the catastrophe that has brought me in the way of an old friend. Yes, I may say so, for I must have known you!'
'Yes,' said Felix, 'we used to watch for you when you came to my uncle. You always had some fun with us.'
'I remember a pair of twins, who were an irresistible attraction. I hope they have grown up accordingly. You look as if you ought to have pretty sisters.'
Felix laughed, and said the twins were reckoned as very pretty.
'How many of you are there—was it not thirteen? Did not those boys get the clergy-orphan?'
'One did, thank you. He is on a farm in Australia now, and I am thinking whether to try for little Bernard; but I am afraid his case would be a stale one, being of seven years' standing.'
'If you want it done, my daughter, Mrs. Rivers, is a dragon of diplomacy in canvassing; but why not send him to Stoneborough? Cheviot takes a selection of cleric's sons at £30, and we would have an eye to him.'
'Thank you, if we can only manage it; but I must see what my sister says—our financier.'