“Yes,” said Cameron, ignoring the scorn; “he reads my lessons to me and then questions me upon them. That is why I call him my professor.”
“I should hardly think you would find him competent,” said the squire.
“He don't know much,” said James, contemptuously.
“On the contrary, I find him very intelligent. He reads clearly and distinctly, and I congratulate myself on obtaining so satisfactory an assistant.”
Squire Leech shrugged his shoulders and had too much wisdom to continue detracting from Herbert's merits, seeing that his guest seemed determined to think well of him. Not so James.
“He is from a low family,” he said, spitefully.
“Low?” interrogated Cameron, significantly.
“His mother is very poor.”
“That's a very different thing,” observed Cameron.
“Mrs. Carter is a very respectable person,” said the squire, condescendingly. “Indeed, I have offered to relieve her by taking her house at a high valuation; but, under a mistaken idea of her own interest, she refuses to sell.”