"Because he is a sneak--a crafty, deceitful fellow, always scheming for
his own interest. He hates me, but he doesn't dare to show it. His
father is my mother's husband, but the property is hers, and will be
mine. He thinks he may some day be dependent on me, and he conceals his
dislike in order to stand the better chance by and by. Heaven grant that
it may be long before my dear mother is called away!"

"How did she happen to marry again, Frank?"

"I can hardly tell. It was a great grief to me. Mr. Manning was a
penniless lawyer, who ingratiated himself with my mother, and
persecuted her till she consented to marry him. He is very soft-spoken,
and very plausible, and he managed to make mother--who has been an
invalid for years--think that it would be the best thing for her to
delegate her cares to him, and provide me with a second father."

Frank did not like his stepfather, he did not trust him.

"Your stepbrother, Mark Manning, enjoys the same advantages as yourself,
does he not?" inquired Herbert.

"Yes."

"Then his father's marriage proved a good thing for him."

"That is true. When he first came to the house he was poorly dressed,
and had evidently been used to living in a poor way. He was at once
provided with a complete outfit as good as my own, and from that time as
much has been spent on him as on me. Don't think that I am mean enough