nor did he shrink from undertaking to elucidate wherefore.  Pluming a smile upon his succulent mouth, he told her that the poverty she lived in was utterly unbefitting her gentle nurture, and that he had reason to believe—­could assure her—­that an annuity was on the point of being granted her by her husband.  And Diaper broke his bud of a smile into full flower as he delivered this information.  She learnt that he had applied to her husband for money.  It is hard to have one’s prop of self-respect cut away just when we are suffering a martyr’s agony at the stake.  There was a five minutes’ tragic colloquy in the recesses behind the scenes,—­totally tragic to Diaper, who had fondly hoped to bask in the warm sun of that annuity, and re-emerge from his state of grub.  The lady then wrote the letter Sir Austin held open to his sister.  The atmosphere behind the scenes is not wholesome, so, having laid the Ghost, we will return and face the curtain.

That infinitesimal dose of The World which Master Ripton Thompson had furnished to the System with such instantaneous and surprising effect was considered by Sir Austin to have worked well, and to be for the time quite sufficient, so that Ripton did not receive a second invitation to Raynham, and Richard had no special intimate of his own age to rub his excessive vitality against, and wanted none.  His hands were full enough with Tom Bakewell.  Moreover, his father and he were heart in heart.  The boy’s mind was opening, and turned to his father affectionately reverent.  At this period, when the young savage grows into higher influences, the faculty of worship is foremost in him.  At this period Jesuits will stamp the future of their chargeling flocks; and all who bring up youth by a System, and watch it, know that it is the malleable moment.  Boys possessing any mental or moral force to give them a tendency, then predestinate their careers; or, if under supervision, take the impress that is given them:  not often to cast it off, and seldom to cast it off altogether.

In Sir Austin’s Note-book was written:  “Between Simple Boyhood and Adolescence—­The Blossoming Season—­on the threshold of Puberty, there is one Unselfish Hour—­say, Spiritual Seed-time.”

He took care that good seed should be planted in Richard, and that the most fruitful seed for a youth, namely, Example, should be of a kind to germinate in him the love of every form of nobleness.

“I am only striving to make my son a Christian,” he said, answering them who persisted in expostulating with the System.  And to these instructions he gave an aim:  “First be virtuous,” he told his son, “and then serve your country with heart and soul.”  The youth was instructed to cherish an ambition for statesmanship, and he and his father read history and the speeches of British orators to some purpose; for one day Sir Austin found him leaning cross-legged, and with his hand to his chin, against a pedestal supporting the bust of Chatham, contemplating the hero of our Parliament, his eyes streaming with tears.