CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
THE UNORIGINAL BOY.
It takes one a long time to discover that there is something wanting in the character of Ebenezer Ditto; and it takes a longer time still to make out exactly what that something is.

He's an ordinary-looking and ordinarily-behaved boy.

There's nothing amiss with the cut of his coat--it's neither extra grand nor extra shabby; there's nothing queer about his voice--he doesn't stammer and he doesn't squeak; there's nothing remarkable about his conversation or his actions--he's not a dunce, though he's not clever; he's not a scamp, though he's not goody; he never offends any one, though he never becomes great friends with any one.

What is it makes us not take to Ebenezer?
Why is it, on the whole, we rather despise him, and feel annoyed when in his society?
For, it is the truth, we _don't_ much care about him.
Well, the answer to this question may be, as I have said, not very readily discovered; but if you watch Master Ditto carefully, and make up your mind, you will get at the bottom of the mystery, you will find that it is this very "ordinary" manner about him to which you object.

The fellow is dull--he is unoriginal.
You feel sometimes as if you would give a sovereign to see Ebenezer stand on his head, by way of variety.