Very often, as he came into easier relations with his aunt, he was told to take some query she could not answer to Uncle James or the rector.

A rather sensitive lad, he soon became aware that his uncle appeared to take no great interest in him, and, too, the boy's long cultivated though lessening reserve kept them apart.

Meanwhile, Ann watched with pleasure his gain in independence, in looks and in appetite.

While James Penhallow after his game of whist at night growled in his den over the bitter politics of the day, North and South, his wife read aloud to the children by the fireside in her own small sitting-room or answered as best she could John's questions, confessing ignorance at times or turning to books of reference.

It was not always easy to satisfy this restless young mind in a fast developing body.