I don't know if my troubles have been lighter or heavier ones than yours----" The school-master stopped short, and turned his head so that his face was almost hidden against his hand upon the wall.

Charlie's big eyes were full of tears, and I am sure I distinctly felt my ears poke forwards on my head with anxious curiosity to catch what Mr.Wood would tell us about that dreadful time of which he had never spoken.
"When I was your age," he said bluntly, "I was unusually lithe and active and strong for mine.

When I was half as old again, I was stronger than any man I knew, and had many a boyish triumph out of my strength, because I was slender and graceful, and this concealed my powers.

I had all the energies and ambitions natural to unusual vigour and manly skill.

I wanted to be a soldier, but it was not to be, and I spent my youth at a desk in a house of business.