"Your obedient servant,
"RICHARD BASSETT."
Lady Bassett did not come down to breakfast that morning; so Sir
Charles digested this dish in solitude.
He was furious with Reginald; but as Richard Bassett's remonstrance was
intended to insult him, he wrote back as follows:
"SIR--I am deeply grieved that a son of mine should descend to look in
at your windows, or to write anything whatever upon your door; and I
will take care it shall never recur.
"Yours obediently,
"CHARLES DYKE BASSETT."
This little correspondence was salutary; it fanned the coals of hatred
between the cousins.
Reckless Reginald soon found he had caught a Tartar in his new master.
That gentleman punished him severely for every breach of discipline.
The study was a cool dark room, with one window looking north, and that
window barred. Here he locked up the erratic youth for hours at a time,
upon the slightest escapade.
Reginald wrote a honeyed letter to Sir Charles, bewailing his lot, and
praying to be removed.
Sir Charles replied sternly, and sent him a copy of Mr. Richard
Bassett's letter. He wrote to Mr. Beecher at the same time, expressing
his full approval.
Thus disciplined, the boy began to change; he became moody, sullen,
silent, and even sleepy.
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