"He has always shown an ungrateful, thankless disposition; and his bad, undutiful temper will be certain to bring him to ruin!" "Let us hope not," replied uncle, placidly.

He was a quiet, easy-going business man, employed in the City, and used to let things quietly take their own course, except when sometimes they touched him too keenly to be left unnoticed.

He then went on addressing me: "You will have to be steady and diligent, making the most of your time; and the master will report to me every quarter as to your conduct and zeal in learning." "Nice reports they'll be!" interposed my aunt, mockingly.
"Well, well," hurriedly concluded Uncle George, to get the thing ended as soon as possible.

"Your fortune is all in your own hands, and I hope and trust, if only for your father's sake, you will turn out well! Remember, that if Dr Hellyer gives a good general report of you at the end of your three years' term, I'll try to get you into a City warehouse or office; but if you behave badly, why, you'll have to shift for yourself, and go your own course, as I shall wash my hands of you!" There the conversation ended, with an intimation that I was to go to Dr Hellyer's school in three days' time.
The interval passed like a whirlwind to me; for not only were my thoughts full of the new life on which I was entering, but there was in addition the very unusual bustle attendant on my being provided with a wardrobe--I for whom anything had been good enough before! My uncle, however, had now made it a _sine qua non_ that I should be fitted out properly with decent clothes, and, consequently, my aunt was obliged to furnish me with a thorough rig, selected from my Cousin Ralph's surplus stock.

One thing pleased me in this better than all else! It was that, instead of having my outer raiment composed, as previously, of Ralph's cast-off garments, I was measured for an entirely new suit of my own.
This alone was an unexpected gratification; for I hated the fact of my being compelled to wear Ralph's discarded clothes.