"Sissy Jupe, sir," explained number twenty, blushing,
standing up, and curtsying.
"Sissy is not a name," said Mr. Gradgrind. "Don't 10
call yourself Sissy. Call yourself Cecilia."
"Father calls me Sissy, sir," returned the young girl in a
trembling voice and with another curtsy.
"Then he has no business to do it," said Mr. Gradgrind.
"Tell him he mustn't. Cecilia Jupe. Let me see. What 15
is your father?"
"He belongs to the horse riding, if you please, sir."
Mr. Gradgrind frowned, and waved off the objectionable
calling with his hand.
"We don't want to know anything about that, here. 20
You mustn't tell us about that, here. Your father breaks
horses, don't he?"
"If you please, sir, when they can get any to break, they
do break horses in the ring, sir."
"You mustn't tell us about the ring, here. Very well, 25
then. Describe your father as a horse breaker. He
doctors sick horses, I dare say."
"Oh, yes, sir!"