"Then you'll wait till I choose to move."

"If you don't get out of the way I shall take the soles off your boots,"

said Bunce, putting back his rubber.

"I'll speak to papa about your insolence," cried the boy, with his eyes

flashing and his fists clenched; and I thought he was going to strike

Bunce.

"Well," said a sharp ringing voice, "speak to him then. What is it?"

I started to my feet, and Bunce touched his cap to a tall elderly

gentleman with closely-cut grey hair and a very fierce-looking white

moustache, whose keen eyes seemed to look me through and through.

"I said, what is it, Phil?" cried the newcomer, whom I felt to be Sir

Francis before Philip spoke.

"This fellow called me a pauper, pa!"

Sir Francis turned sharply on Bunce, who did not seem in the slightest

degree alarmed.

"How dare you call my son a pauper, sir?" he said sternly.

"I--"

"Stop!" cried Sir Francis. "Here, you boy, go away and wait till I call

you. Not far."

"Yes, sir," I said; and I walked away thinking what a fierce quick man

he seemed, and not knowing then that he was one of the magistrates.

A minute later he called to me to go back, and as soon as I had reached

him, with Philip by his side and Bunce before him, Philip stepped back

and held up his fist at me menacingly.

He thought the movement was unobserved by his stepfather; but Sir

Francis, who was an old Indian officer, noted the act, as he showed us

directly after.

"Now, boy," he said, "what's your name?"

"Grant, Sir Francis."

"Well, Grant, did this under-gardener call Master Philip a pauper?"

I told him exactly what had occurred, and Sir Francis turned sharply on

his step-son.

"You were already self-condemned, Philip," he said sternly. "I saw you

threaten this boy with your fist. The way to win respect from those

beneath you in station is to treat them with respect."

"But, papa--"

"Hold your tongue, sir," said Sir Francis sternly.

"I had eight hundred men in my regiment, and all the band came from one

of the unions, and better fellows could not be found. My lad," he

continued, "I dare say you know that pauper only means poor. It is no

disgrace to be poor. Philip, go indoors."

"That's a flea in his ear," said Bunce chuckling, as Sir Francis went

one way, Philip the other. "What do you think of the master?"

"He seems very sharp and angry," I said, returning to my work.

"He's all that," said the man; "but he's a reg'lar gentleman. He always

drops on to them two if he catches 'em up to their larks. Nice boys

both of 'em."




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