But a very superior person." "To be sure," continued Jael, not quite convinced, "he don't come up to Squire Raby; but, dear heart, he have a grander way with him than most of the Hillsborough gentlefolks as calls here." "Nonsense!" said Grace, authoritatively.

"Look at his nails." Henry came twice a week, and his pupil made remarkable progress.

She was deferential, attentive, enthusiastic.
By degrees the work led to a little conversation; and that, in due course, expanded into a variety of subjects; and the young lady, to her surprise, found her carver well-read in History and Sciences, and severely accurate in his information, whereas her own, though abundant, was rather loose.
One day she expressed her surprise that he could have found time to be so clever with his fingers and yet cultivate his mind.
"Well," said he, "I was lucky enough to have a good mother.

She taught me all she knew, and she gave me a taste for reading; and that has been the making of me; kept me out of the public-house, for one thing." "Ah! you WERE fortunate.

I lost my mother, sir, when I was but eight years old." "Oh dear, that was a bad job," said Henry brusquely but kindly.
"A very bad job," said Grace, smiling; but the next moment she suddenly turned her fair head away and tears stole down her cheeks.
Henry looked very sorry, and Jael, without moving, looked at Grace, and opened those sluices, her eyes, and two big drops of sympathy rolled down her comely face in a moment.
That day, when young Little shut the street-door of "Woodbine Villa" and stepped into the road, a sort of dull pain seemed to traverse his chest.
It made his heart ache a little, this contrast of the sweet society he had left and the smoky town toward which he now turned his face.