Even amid his pangs of mortification Godwin found himself pondering an intellectual question.  Was his uncle wholly unconscious of the misery he was causing?  Had it never occurred to him that the public proximity of an uneducated shopkeeping relative must be unwelcome to a lad who was distinguishing himself at Whitelaw College?  Were that truly the case, then it would be unjust to regard Andrew resentfully; destiny alone was to blame.  And, after all, the man might be so absorbed in his own interest, so strictly confined to the views of his own class, as never to have dreamt of the sensibilities he wounded.  In fact, the shame excited by this prospect was artificial.  Godwin had already felt that it was unworthy alike of a philosopher and of a high-minded man of the world.  The doubt as to Andrew’s state of mind, and this moral problem, had a restraining effect upon the young man’s temper.  A practical person justifies himself in wrath as soon as his judgment is at one with that of the multitude.  Godwin, though his passions were of exceptional force, must needs refine, debate with himself points of abstract justice.

‘I’ve been tellin’ Jowey, Grace, as I ’ope he may turn out such another as Godwin ’ere.  ’E’ll go to Collige, will Jowey.  Godwin, jest arst the bo-oy a question or two, will you?  ‘E ain’t been doin’ bad at ’is school.  Jest put ’im through ’is pyces, as yer may sye.  Stend up, Jowey, bo-oy.’

Godwin looked askance at his cousin, who stood with pert face, ready for any test.

‘What’s the date of William the Conqueror?’ he asked, mechanically.

‘Ow!’ shouted the youth.  ’Down’t mike me larff!  Zif I didn’t know thet!  Tensixsixtenightysivn, of course!’

The father turned round with an expression of such sincere pride that Godwin, for all his loathing, was obliged to smile.

’Jowey, jest sye a few verses of poitry; them as you learnt larst.  ‘E’s good at poitry, is Jowey.’

The boy broke into fearsome recitation: 

’The silly buckits on the deck
That ’ed so long rem’ined,
I dreamt as they was filled with jew,
End when I awowk, it r’ined.’

Half-a-dozen verses were thus massacred, and the reciter stopped with the sudden jerk of a machine.

’Goes str’ight on, don’t ‘e, Grace?’ cried the father, exultantly.  ‘Jowey ain’t no fool.  Know what he towld me the other day?  Somethin’ as I never knew, and shouldn’t never ’ave thought of s’long as I lived.  We was talkin’ about jewellery, an’ Jowey, ’e pops up all at wunst.  “It’s called jewellery,” says ’e, “’cos it’s mostly the Jews as sell it.”  Now, oo’d a thought o’ that?  But you see it’s right as soon as you’re towld, eh?  Now ain’t it right, Godwin?’

‘No doubt,’ was the dry answer.

‘It never struck me,’ murmured Mrs. Peak, who took her son’s assent seriously, and felt that it was impossible to preserve an obstinate silence.