in decency offer them _less_ than a hundred a year. He began to
shake out the ashes from his pipe, with a vague intention of
relighting it.

'You really imagine,' said his father, 'that I should give you money
to enable you to marry that idiot?'

Evidently he put a severe restraint upon himself. The veins of his
temples were congested; his nostrils grew wide; and he spoke rather
hoarsely. Horace straightened his back, and, though in great fear,
strung himself for conflict.

'I don't see--what right--to insult the young lady.'

His father took him up sternly.

'Young lady? What do you mean by "young lady"? After all your
education, haven't you learnt to distinguish a lady from a
dressed-up kitchen wench? _I_ had none of your advantages. There was
--there would have been some excuse for _me_, if I had made such a
fool of myself. What were you doing all those years at school, if it
wasn't learning the difference between real and sham, getting to
understand things better than poor folks' children? You disappointed
me, and a good deal more than I ever told you. I had hoped you would
come from school better able to make a place in the world than your
father was. I made up my mind long ago that you should never go into
my business; you were to be something a good deal better. But after
all you couldn't, or wouldn't, do what I wanted. Never mind--I
said to myself--never mind; at all events, he has learnt to
_think_ in a better way than if I had sent him to common schools,