but now transformed into a kind of study where he found william b a awaiting him looked pale and his lips were hard set his employer nodded to him carelessly in passing and then sitting down at his unlocked a drawer took from thence his book and wrote out a sum that was more than s due as he handed it over the young man glanced at it and coloured hotly no thank you mr � he said � the exact sum please and not a over what exclaimed in a tone � a refuse an extra fee is this the age of miracles grew paler but kept himself quiet think what you like of mr he returned � they can get on without your good opinion i and certainly they need none of my defending i merely refuse to accept anything i have not honestly earned � there is no miracle in that i fancy it is as if i took my dismissal badly � on the contrary i should have dismissed myself if you had not me i will have no share in child murder if a had exploded in the little room mr could not have looked more thoroughly astounded he sprang from his chair and confronted the audacious speaker in such indignation as almost choked his utterance ch � ch � child murder he trembling all over in the excess of his sudden rage � d � d � did i hear you rightly sir child murder i repeat it mr � said his blue eyes now flashing and his lips quivering � child murder take the phrase and think it over you have only one child � a boy of a most and intelligent disposition quick � too quick by half � and you are killing him with your hard and fast rules and your system of intellectual training you deprive him of such and exercises as are necessary to his health and growth � you surround him with petty which make his young life a � you give him no companions of his own age and you are as i say him � slowly perhaps but none the less surely any physician with the merest superficial knowledge of his business would tell you what i tell you � that is any physician who preferred truth to white with passion mr snatched up the he had just written and tore it into fragments � then opening another drawer in his desk he took out a handful of notes and gold and counting them rapidly flung them upon the table hold your insolent tongue sir he said in hoarse accents of ill suppressed fury � there is your money � exact to a take it and go and before you presume to apply for another situation as to the son of a gentleman tn e you had better learn to know your place and put a check on your scotch conceit and impertinence not another word � go with a sudden proud lifting of his head eyed his late employer from heel to brow and from brow to heel again in the measuring manner known to fighting men � his eyes sparkled with anger � and his hands clenched then all at once evidently moved by some thought which restrained if it did not entirely overcome his wrath he swept up his lightly in one hand turned and left the room without either a thank you or when he had gone john burst into an angry laugh insolent young he muttered � how such fellows get university honours and is more than i can imagine and i suppose � like everything else an lazy if ever there was one � and the worst companion in the world for the boy has done nothing but idle away his time ever since he came fm very glad professor is able to accept a few weeks of holiday � he is expensive certainly � but he will remedy all the mischief � � � � has done and get on � he is a thoroughly man too on the religious question soothed by the prospect of the coming of professor mr cooled down and presently went to join his wife and sir charles in the drawing room he found that apartment empty however and on inquiry of one of the servants learnt that sir charles had been gone some minutes and that mrs was walking by herself in the garden mr thereupon went to one of the deep which stood open and the scented summer air the day s rain had certainly left the ground wet and he was not fond of strolling about under damp trees the moon was high and very beautiful in her clear but mr did not admire moonlight effects � he thought all that kind of thing the grave and silence of the night the landscape � mr disliked silence and he therefore loudly and with much unpleasant throat to disturb it throat gave just the necessary suggestion of prose to a picture which would otherwise have been purely romantic � a picture of and hill and silver cloud and purple sky in all of which mere humanity seemed blotted out and forgotten mr his ugly cough in order to get humanity into it � and as he finished the last little note of noise he wondered where his wife was the garden was a large and rambling one and had been long and greatly neglected though the owners of the place had arranged with mr when he had taken the house for three months that he should pay a gardener weekly wages to attend to it a decent but dull native of had been elected to this post and his exertions had certainly effected something in the way of clearing the paths and keeping them clean � but he was apparently incapable of dealing with the wild growth of and oak that had 