"If she was ever in love with your father, she seems to have transferred her affections to you.

Good-bye--and don't let it be too long before you come again." Austin brandished his leg with more than usual haughtiness as he thudded his way home along the road.

He always gave it a sort of additional swing when he was excited or pleased, and on this particular occasion his gait was almost defiant.

It must be confessed that, never having known either of his parents, he had not hitherto thought much about them.

There was one small and much-faded photograph of his father, which Aunt Charlotte kept locked up in a drawer, but of his mother there was no likeness at all, and he had no idea whatever of her appearance.