there was another matter that weighed upon the mind of ernest, and was his first thought when he awoke in the morning. it was the request which he was to make to his uncle concerning bringing jack and ben to the castle. mr. ewart had declined making the request for him, and in this ernest thought his tutor for the first time unkind. but ernest was mistaken, as those usually are who judge others without entering into their feelings or position. the truth was that mr. ewart very well knew that no request made by him would be likely to be granted. he was almost disliked by mr. hope, whose character presented a remarkable contrast to his own, and who treated his nephews’ tutor with bare civility, though as well born and better educated than himself.
mr. hope was what is called a man of the world—one who made business his sole ambition; his worldliness, his pride, were in the sight of the eternal but—vanity!
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ernest was beginning to more than waver in his wish to have the sons of lawless living so near him. he felt since his arrival at fontonore, more than he had ever done before, how disagreeable their presence might be. had ernest not been a sincere christian, he would have tried as much as possible to banish from his mind all recollection of early days of humiliation and suffering, and would have endeavoured to keep far away from himself all that could remind him of his peasant life. but ernest felt that this would be throwing away the lessons which god had taught him at the cost of so much pain; and that, in failing to bring those whom he had once considered his brothers to a place where they might benefit from the same instructions that had been so much blessed to himself, he might be neglecting the means of bringing them to god.
ernest therefore resolved to speak to his uncle, much as he disliked doing so; and he found an opportunity the very first morning, as mr. hope sat alone in the library engaged in reading the times.
“did you want a book, ernest?” said his uncle, as the young nobleman stood hesitating and embarrassed before him. “you’ll have to make up for lost time, i suspect. let’s see, how old are you now?”
“i was twelve last march,” replied ernest.
“ah, i remember—in your thirteenth year; you should have made some progress by that age. i suppose
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that your studies have been much neglected. may i ask what books you have read?”
“the bible and pilgrim’s progress,” answered the boy.
mr. hope turned down the corners of his mouth with a contemptuous expression, little dreaming that all the treasures of learning and wit which the most talented mind ever grasped are useless—worthless, compared with the wisdom to be gathered from one sacred volume.
“a puritanical library, more select than comprehensive,” said the gentleman; “you must apply yourself to something else in future. you have a pretty long course of education before you ere you can be fit for the station which you hold—latin, greek, french, german, mathematics, algebra, natural philosophy, and a thousand other things, indispensable for a nobleman—all to be mastered in the next few years.”
ernest felt himself at the foot of a new mountain of difficulty, with a humiliating sense of ignorance.
“but you wished to say something to me,” resumed mr. hope, leaning back in his chair, and laying down the paper with a formidable air of attention.
“now for it!” thought ernest, struggling against his shyness and his extreme disinclination to speak to his uncle. “sir,” said he aloud, “i am very anxious to do something for my bro—— the sons of lawless, i mean, with whom i passed the days of my childhood.”
