The Crofton Boys | Page 9

Harriet Martineau

"There now!" said he, "I have let the cat out of the bag. Look at
Agnes!" and he pinched her crimson cheek.
Everybody then looked at Agnes, except Harry, who was busy looking
for the cat which papa said had come out of mamma's work-bag. Agnes
could not bear the gaze, and burst into tears.
"Agnes has taken more pains to keep the secret than her papa," said
Mrs. Proctor. "The secret is, that Hugh is going to Crofton next month."

"Am I ten, then?" asked Hugh, in his hurry and surprise.
"Scarcely; since you were only eight and a quarter yesterday
afternoon," replied his father.
"I will tell you all about it by-and-by, my dear," said his mother. Her
glance towards Agnes made all the rest understand that they had better
speak of something else now. So Mr. Proctor beckoned Harry to come
and see whether the cat had not got into the bag again, as she was not to
be seen anywhere else. It is true, the bag was not much bigger than a
cat's head; but that did not matter to Harry, who never cared for that
sort of consideration, and had been busy for half an hour, the day
before, in trying to put the key of the house-door into the key-hole of
the tea-caddy.
By the time Agnes had recovered herself, and the table was cleared,
Miss Harold had arrived. Hugh brought his books with the rest, but,
instead of opening them, rested his elbow on the uppermost, and stared
full at Miss Harold.
"Well, Hugh!" said she, smiling.
"I have not learned quite down to 'Constantinople,'" said he. "Papa told
me I need not, and not to mind you."
"Why, Hugh! hush!" cried Jane.
"He did,--he said exactly that. But he meant, Miss Harold, that I am to
be a Crofton boy,--directly, next month."
"Then have we done with one another, Hugh?" asked Miss Harold,
gently. "Will you not learn any more from me?"
"That is for your choice, Miss Harold," observed Mr. Proctor. "Hugh
has not deserved the pains you have taken with him: and if you decline
more trouble with him now he is going into other hands, no one can
wonder."

Miss Harold feared that he was but poorly prepared for school, and was
quite ready to help him, if he would give his mind to the effort. She
thought that play, or reading books that he liked, was less waste of time
than his common way of doing his lessons; but if he was disposed
really to work, with the expectation of Crofton before him, she was
ready to do her best to prepare him for the real hard work he would
have to do there.
His mother proposed that he should have time to consider whether he
would have a month's holiday, or a month's work, before leaving home.
She had to go out this morning. He might go with her, if he liked; and,
as they returned, they would sit down in the Temple Garden, and she
would tell him all about the plan.
Hugh liked this beginning of his new prospects. He ran to be made neat
for his walk with his mother. He knew he must have the wet curl on his
forehead twice over to-day; but he comforted himself with hoping that
there would be no time at Crofton for him to be kept standing, to have
his hair done so particularly, and to be scolded all the while, and then
kissed, like a baby, at the end.
CHAPTER III.
MICHAELMAS-DAY COME.
Hugh was about to ask his mother, again and again during their walk,
why Mr. Tooke let him go to Crofton before he was ten; but Mrs.
Proctor was grave and silent; and though she spoke kindly to him now
and then, she did not seem disposed to talk. At last, they were in the
Temple Garden; and they sat down where there was no one to overhear
them; and then Hugh looked up at his mother. She saw, and told him,
what it was that he wanted to ask.
"It is on account of the little boys themselves," said she, "that Mr.
Tooke does not wish to have them very young, now that there is no
kind lady in the house who could be like a mother to them."
"But there is Mrs. Watson. Phil has told me a hundred things about Mrs.

Watson."
"Mrs. Watson is the housekeeper. She is careful, I know, about the
boys' health and comfort; but she has no time to attend to the younger
ones, as Mrs. Tooke did,--hearing their little troubles, and being a
friend to them like their mothers at home."
"There is Phil----"
"Yes. You will have Phil to look to. But neither Phil, nor any
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