had a daughter it would have been better for her; but her two children
were boys, and their father, anxious to give them the advantages of
which he himself had suffered the deprivation, sent the lads very early
to a preparatory school. They were to go on to Rugby and Cambridge; the
idea of Oxford was hereditarily distasteful in the Hamley family.
Osborne, the eldest--so called after his mother's maiden name--was full
of tastes, and had some talent. His appearance had all the grace and
refinement of his mother's. He was sweet-tempered and affectionate,
almost as demonstrative as a girl. He did well at school, carrying away
many prizes; and was, in a word, the pride and delight of both father
and mother; the confidential friend of the latter, in default of any
other. Roger was two years younger than Osborne; clumsy and heavily
built, like his father; his face was square, and the expression grave,
and rather immobile. He was good, but dull, his schoolmasters said. He
won no prizes, but brought home a favourable report of his conduct.
When he caressed his mother, she used laughingly to allude to the fable
of the lap-dog and the donkey; so thereafter he left off all personal
demonstration of affection. It was a great question as to whether he
was to follow his brother to college after he left Rugby. Mrs. Hamley
thought it would be rather a throwing away of money, as he was so
little likely to distinguish himself in intellectual pursuits; anything
practical--such as a civil engineer--would be more the line of life for
him. She thought that it would be too mortifying for him to go to the
same college and university as his brother, who was sure to distinguish
himself--and, to be repeatedly plucked, to come away wooden-spoon at
last. But his father persevered doggedly, as was his wont, in his
intention of giving both his sons the same education; they should both
have the advantages of which he had been deprived. If Roger did not do
well at Cambridge it would be his own fault. If his father did not send
him thither, some day or other he might be regretting the omission, as