“But Mr Grimstone said he was to—”
“Jem Smith, do you know you are a fool?” said the dark man quietly.
“I dessay I am, Mr Hallett, but Mr Grimstone said as this boy was to—”
“And if you don’t go about your business I shall box your ears.”
“No, you—”
He did not finish his sentence, for there was something in the deep-set dark eyes which had such an effect upon him that he sneaked off, and I turned to my protector.
“Would you please tell me why these little things have no letters on their ends, sir?” I said.
“Because they are spaces, my boy. Don’t you remember in reading a book there is a little distance between every word?”
“Yes, sir,” I said eagerly; “and after a full stop there’s a bigger space.”
“To be sure!” he said, smiling, and his pale face looked less stern and severe. “Look: these little things, as you call them, but as we call them, thick spaces, go between every word, and these square ones after a full stop. How are you getting on?”