Sir Tancred after a while grew impatient for the distractions of which he had acquired so deep-rooted a habit.
Moreover, in the country, out of a well-filled country house or shooting-box, he might at any time fall into the old, sorrowful brooding on his lost happiness.
The most uncommon part of Tinker's education was the careful cultivation of his faculty of observation.

Sir Tancred himself had a natural gift of understanding his fellow-creatures, which, along with his finer brain, little by little placed him in the noble but unenviable position of being the first person to whom his friends flew to be extricated from their scrapes.

He had found that his gift stood him in such good stead in his varying fortunes that he spared no pains to equip Tinker with the faculty even more finely developed.
In forming Tinker's manners he was at once aided and hindered by many women.

The faithful Selina, with all the best-hearted intentions in the world of spoiling the child, was foiled, partly by Sir Tancred's watchfulness, and partly by the uncertainty of her own temper.

She was liable to the sudden, gusty rages of her class; and one of these rages undid the harm of many days' indulgence.