CHAPTER VII--MORE CONFIDENCES THAN ONE.
'I know very little of that gentleman, sir,' said Neville to the Minor Canon as they turned back.
'You know very little of your guardian ?' the Minor Canon repeated.
'Almost nothing!' 'How came he--' 'To _be_ my guardian?
I'll tell you, sir.

I suppose you know that we come (my sister and I) from Ceylon ?' 'Indeed, no.' 'I wonder at that.

We lived with a stepfather there.

Our mother died there, when we were little children.

We have had a wretched existence.
She made him our guardian, and he was a miserly wretch who grudged us food to eat, and clothes to wear.