too full with the management of the house, which entirely devolved
upon her, and with the constant attention demanded by Mrs. Sankey,
to give them any close superintendence. Thus like most children
born in India and left entirely in the charge of colored nurses,
Ned had acquired the habit of giving way to bursts of ungovernable
passion; for the black nurses have no authority over their young
charges, unless seconded and supported by the firmness of their
mothers. In this case no such support had been forthcoming.

Mrs. Sankey hated being troubled, and the ayahs always found that
any complaints to her recoiled upon themselves, for she always
took the part of her children, and insisted that the fault lay on
the side of the nurses and not on them. The natural result was,
that the ayahs ceased to trouble her, and found it easier to allow
the children to do as they chose, and to give way quietly to Ned's
outbursts of passion.

Captain Sankey knew nothing of all this. Ned was very fond of him,
and was always bright and good tempered when with his father, and
it was not until he left India and was thrown more with him that
Captain Sankey discovered how grievously Ned's disposition, which
was in other respects a fine one, was marred by the habit which had
been encouraged by indulgence and want of control. Then he set to
work earnestly to remedy the mischief, but the growth of years is
hard to eradicate, and although under the influence of the affection
for his father and his own good sense Ned had so far conquered himself
that his fits of passion were few and far between, the evil still
existed, and might yet, as his father felt, lead to consequences
which would mar his whole life.