And of one thing I am sure: that every one thawed and became more

humanised and conversible as soon as these innocent people appeared

upon the scene. I would not very readily trust the travelling

merchant with any extravagant sum of money; but I am sure his heart

was in the right place. In this mixed world, if you can find one

or two sensible places in a man--above all, if you should find a

whole family living together on such pleasant terms--you may surely

be satisfied, and take the rest for granted; or, what is a great

deal better, boldly make up your mind that you can do perfectly

well without the rest; and that ten thousand bad traits cannot make

a single good one any the less good.

It was getting late. M. Hector lit a stable lantern and went off

to his cart for some arrangements; and my young gentleman proceeded

to divest himself of the better part of his raiment, and play

gymnastics on his mother's lap, and thence on to the floor, with

accompaniment of laughter.

'Are you going to sleep alone?' asked the servant lass.

'There's little fear of that,' says Master Gilliard.

'You sleep alone at school,' objected his mother. 'Come, come, you

must be a man.'

But he protested that school was a different matter from the

holidays; that there were dormitories at school; and silenced the

discussion with kisses: his mother smiling, no one better pleased

than she.

There certainly was, as he phrased it, very little fear that he

should sleep alone; for there was but one bed for the trio. We, on

our part, had firmly protested against one man's accommodation for

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