"
"No, sir. I'm an obedient little girl."
"You little scamp! You were meant to be a boy. Is there anything you are
afraid of?"
"Yes, algebra."
"Oh! get out," and she fled.
At dinner John said no word of the skating, to the satisfaction of Leila
who conveyed to her uncle a gratified sense of victory by some of the
signs which were their private property.
Leaving the cousins to their game of chess, Penhallow followed his wife
and Mark Rivers into his library. "Well, Mark," he said, "you have had
this boy long enough to judge; it is time I heard what you think of him.
You asked me to wait. The youngster is rather reticent, and Leila is
about the only person in the house who really knows much about him. He
talks like a man of thirty."
"I do not find him reticent," remarked Mrs. Ann, "and his manners are
charming--I wish Leila's were half as good."
"Well, let's hear about him."
"May I smoke?" asked the rector.
"Anywhere but in my drawing-room. I believe James would like to smoke in
church."
"It might have its consolations," returned Penhallow.
"Thanks," said Rivers smiling. Neither man took advantage of her unusual
permission. "But you, Squire, have been closer than I to this interesting
boy. What do you make of him?"
"He can't ride--he hardly knows a horse from a mule.
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