But this was not done out of the ten shillings. Oh, dear, no. George and Bess were not so foolish as that.
This was all arranged in advance out of the thousand a year which George was going to get by-and-by.
CHAPTER XII.
GOES INTO A LITTLE FAMILY HISTORY.
Gertie and Lion were in the middle of their lessons, and the parrot, as usual, was behaving in a most reprehensible manner. English history it treated with absolute contempt, geography it whistled away to the winds, and the ridicule it cast upon the first principles of social morality was deserving of the most severe censure.
‘It is wicked to tell an untruth,’ said Miss Adrian.
Lion and Gertie quite agreed with Miss Adrian that it was; but the parrot said, ‘Humbug!’
‘And it’s wicked to use bad words, Miss Adrian, isn’t it?’ said Gertie, with a withering glance at the objectionable bird.
‘It is, dear,’ answered Miss Adrian, with a smile; ‘but Polly has picked up bad words from hearing other people use them, and this shows us that when we do and say wicked things, we are injuring others as well as ourselves.’
Gertie quite saw that. She felt that her grandfather was responsible to a great extent for the depraved condition of Polly’s mind.
‘Oh, Miss Adrian,’ she said, ‘if grandfather could only hear you and have a few lessons, I’m sure he would be good. I think he doesn’t know it’s wicked.’