He is a cousin of one of my men, and heard I suppose from him that you were likely to return.

He has been to me three or four times.

I have told him again and again that he was not the sort of man I could recommend, but he persisted in begging me to let him see you himself." "What sort of a fellow is he ?" "Well, to tell you the truth he is a sort of ne'er-do-well," the merchant laughed.

"I grant that he has not had much chance.

His father died when he was a child, and his mother soon married again.
There is no doubt that he was badly treated at home, and when he was twelve he ran away.