"I don't want any row about it, and I will pay him off some other way.

I could lick him easy enough if it had been a fair fight, only he knocked me down before I was on my guard.

No, I sha'n't say anything about it." But Richard's tutor, on thinking the matter over, determined to speak to the squire.

Only the evening before, Mr.Linthorne had surprised him by asking him several questions as to Richard's progress and conduct, and had said something about examining him himself, to see how he was getting on.

This had caused Mr.Robertson no little alarm, for he knew that even the most superficial questioning would betray the extent of Richard's ignorance, and he had resolved that, henceforth, he would endeavour to assert his authority, and to insist upon Richard's devoting a certain portion of each day, regularly, to study.