Austin smiled a loving arch smile. "Poor Prissy!" he said. "But don't be vexed if I say I'm not sorry you have come to a standstill in these things. Don't despair—you will find a use for them some day; but at present we need you sorely for many things, Prissy. There is work, and plenty of it, lying at your hand. But I must go and see if I can get Lewis out of bed."
He bounded upstairs, and soon returned with Lewis to the breakfast-room, where Miss Vernon was presiding at the tea-table, and Dr. Warner and the children had assembled.
"Late as usual, boys," said the professor, not angrily, but with a pleased, proud look at the two handsome lads as they entered arm in arm. "Sitting up too late at night studying, Lewis, I fear; but remember the saying, 'Early to bed, and early to rise, is the way to be healthy and wealthy and wise.'"
Breakfast over, both boys set off to school, and Austin gained courage to speak a word to his brother.
"Lewis," he said, "have you spoken to young M'Ivor in your class? He is such a capital fellow. Might we ask him to come and walk with us next half-holiday? He has made friends already with the best set of boys in the school, and it would be jolly for us to join them. You know, Lewis, it would grieve our father terribly if he knew how you spend your evenings with Smith and Roberts and that set. Do begin this session afresh, and remain at home in the evenings. Is it not mean and wrong to let our father think you are studying hard, when all the while you are really worse than wasting your time?"
"Well," said Lewis, "I know it is not right; but what can one do? It is so horribly dull at home. Prissy pores over a book the whole evening, and never speaks to any one; and Miss Vernon's head is always aching, and she stays in her own room. We have such jolly times in the club-room; and we are not doing any real harm, at least I don't. But, old boy, I daresay you are right, and I don't want to vex you, so maybe I'll try and endure a night at home if I can."
As soon as school was over, Austin ran home and got hold of his sister.
"O Prissy," he said, "Lewis has promised to begin to stay at home in the evenings this session. Will you try to make it bright for him? Do try, and I'll do all I can to help you."
But Prissy's mood had changed since the morning. She had got a new book on astronomy, which had at once occupied her mind. She had already been obliged to lay it down several times in order to obey some positive command of Miss Vernon's, and she was looking forward with eagerness to the evening, when she would be free to study it unmolested. For Priscilla's idea of spending a pleasant evening was to set the children with some picture-book or solitary game round the table, telling them to make as little noise as possible, as she wished to read.
So when Austin spoke she only replied testily, "Really I think Lewis might learn to spend his evenings rationally like other people. What does he wish to do? Does he need you or me to play with him, as if he were a baby, requiring to be amused? It is too absurd, Austin. You, like every one else, seem bent on spoiling Lewis."