He thinks he may some day be dependent on me, and he conceals his dislike in order to stand the better chance by and by.

Heaven grant that it may be long before my dear mother is called away!" "How did she happen to marry again, Frank ?" "I can hardly tell.

It was a great grief to me.

Mr.Manning was a penniless lawyer, who ingratiated himself with my mother, and persecuted her till she consented to marry him.

He is very soft-spoken, and very plausible, and he managed to make mother--who has been an invalid for years--think that it would be the best thing for her to delegate her cares to him, and provide me with a second father." Frank did not like his stepfather, he did not trust him.
"Your stepbrother, Mark Manning, enjoys the same advantages as yourself, does he not ?" inquired Herbert.
"Yes." "Then his father's marriage proved a good thing for him." "That is true.