“Yes.  But I couldn’t help that one.”

“Well, come along.  I will read to you.”

“Oh! thank you.  That will be delightful.  But must we not go to our lessons?”

“I’m going to make a lesson of this.  I have been talking to your papa; and we’re going to begin with a holiday, instead of ending with one.  I must get better acquainted with you first, Harry, before I can teach you right.  We must be friends, you know.”

The boy crept close up to him, laid one thin hand on his knee, looked in his face for a moment, and then, without a word, sat down on the couch close beside him.  Before an hour had passed, Harry was laughing heartily at Gulliver’s adventures amongst the Lilliputians.  Having arrived at this point of success, Hugh ceased reading, and began to talk to him.

“Is that lady your cousin?”

“Yes.  Isn’t she beautiful?”

“I hardly know yet.  I have not got used to her enough yet.  What is her name?”

“Oh! such a pretty name—­Euphrasia.”

“Is she the only lady in the house?”

“Yes; my mamma is dead, you know.  She was ill for a long time, they say; and she died when I was born.”

The tears came in the poor boy’s eyes.  Hugh thought of his own father, and put his hand on Harry’s shoulder.  Harry laid his head on Hugh’s shoulder.

“But,” he went on, “Euphra is so kind to me!  And she is so clever too!  She knows everything.”

“Have you no brothers or sisters?”

“No, none.  I wish I had.”

“Well, I’ll be your big brother.  Only you must mind what I say to you; else I shall stop being him.  Is it a bargain?”

“Yes, to be sure!” cried Harry in delight; and, springing from the couch, he began hopping feebly about the room on one foot, to express his pleasure.

“Well, then, that’s settled.  Now, you must come and show me the horses—­your ponies, you know—­and the pigs—­”

“I don’t like the pigs—­I don’t know where they are.”

“Well, we must find out.  Perhaps I shall make some discoveries for you.  Have you any rabbits?”

“No.”

“A dog though, surely?”

“No.  I had a canary, but the cat killed it, and I have never had a pet since.”

“Well, get your cap, and come out with me.  I will wait for you here.”

Harry walked away—­he seldom ran.  He soon returned with his cap, and they sallied out together.

Happening to look back at the house, when a few paces from it, Hugh thought he saw Euphra standing at the window of a back staircase.  They made the round of the stables, and the cow-house, and the poultry-yard; and even the pigs, as proposed, came in for a share of their attention.  As they approached the stye, Harry turned away his head with a look of disgust.  They were eating out of the trough.

“They make such a nasty noise!” he said.

“Yes, but just look:  don’t they enjoy it?” said Hugh.