Company was seldom seen, for Papa and Mamma had little
time or means for visiting; and a few morning calls and a little
dining out was all they did; which tended to make the young ones more
shy and homely, more free and rude, more inclined to love their own
ways and despise those of other people, than if they had seen more of
the world. They were a happy, healthy set of children, not faulty in
essentials, but, it must be confessed, a little wild, rough and
uncivil, in spite of the code of fines.
CHAPTER II.
Mrs. Merrifield had taught her children herself, till Samuel and
Henry began going to the Curate for a couple of hours every day, to
be prepared for school. Lessons were always rather a scramble; so
many people coming to speak to her, and so many interruptions from
the nursery; and then came a time when Mamma always was tired, and
Papa used to come out and scold if the noises grew very loud indeed,
and was vexed if the children gave Mamma any trouble of any kind.
Next they were told they were to have a governess--a sort of piece of
finery which the little savages had always despised--and thereupon
came Miss Fosbrook; but before she had been a week in the house Mamma
was quite ill and in her bed-room, and Papa looked graver than he had
ever done before; and Mr.
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