'To tell the truth,' said he, 'he fairly bamboozles me. He's two
chaps. One chap I knowed of old as were measter all o'er. T'other
chap hasn't an ounce of measter's flesh about him. How them two
chaps is bound up in one body, is a craddy for me to find out.
I'll not be beat by it, though. Meanwhile he comes here pretty
often; that's how I know the chap that's a man, not a measter.
And I reckon he's taken aback by me pretty much as I am by him;
for he sits and listens and stares, as if I were some strange
beast newly caught in some of the zones. But I'm none daunted. It
would take a deal to daunt me in my own house, as he sees. And I
tell him some of my mind that I reckon he'd ha' been the better
of hearing when he were a younger man.' 'And does he not answer you?' asked Mr. Hale.
'Well! I'll not say th' advantage is all on his side, for all I
take credit for improving him above a bit. Sometimes he says a
rough thing or two, which is not agreeable to look at at first,
but has a queer smack o' truth in it when yo' come to chew it.
He'll be coming to-night, I reckon, about them childer's
schooling. He's not satisfied wi' the make of it, and wants for
t' examine 'em.' 'What are they'--began Mr. Hale; but Margaret, touching his arm,
showed him her watch.
'It is nearly seven,' she said. 'The evenings are getting longer
now. Come, papa.' She did not breathe freely till they were some
distance from the house. Then, as she became more calm, she
wished that she had not been in so great a hurry; for, somehow,
they saw Mr. Thornton but very seldom now; and he might have come
to see Higgins, and for the old friendship's sake she should like
to have seen him to-night.
Yes! he came very seldom, even for the dull cold purpose of
lessons. Mr. Hale was disappointed in his pupil's lukewarmness
about Greek literature, which had but a short time ago so great
an interest for him. And now it often happened that a hurried
note from Mr. Thornton would arrive, just at the last moment,
saying that he was so much engaged that he could not come to read
with Mr. Hale that evening. And though other pupils had taken
more than his place as to time, no one was like his first scholar
in Mr. Hale's heart. He was depressed and sad at this partial
cessation of an intercourse which had become dear to him; and he
used to sit pondering over the reason that could have occasioned
this change.