CHAPTER XI. THE ASHBURNS

Gregory Ashburn pushed back his chair and made shift to rise from the table at which he and his brother had but dined.

He was a tall, heavily built man, with a coarse, florid countenance set in a frame of reddish hair that hung straight and limp. In the colour of their hair lay the only point of resemblance between the brothers. For the rest Joseph was spare and of middle weight, pale of face, thin-lipped, and owning a cunning expression that was rendered very evil by virtue of the slight cast in his colourless eyes.

In earlier life Gregory had not been unhandsome; debauchery and sloth had puffed and coarsened him. Joseph, on the other hand, had never been aught but ill-favoured.

"Tis a week since Worcester field was fought," grumbled Gregory, looking lazily sideways at the mullioned windows as he spoke, "and never a word from the lad."

Joseph shrugged his narrow shoulders and sneered. It was Joseph's habit to sneer when he spoke, and his words were wont to fit the sneer.

"Doth the lack of news trouble you?" he asked, glancing across the table at his brother.

Gregory rose without meeting that glance.

"Truth to tell it does trouble me," he muttered.

"And yet," quoth Joseph, "tis a natural thing enough. When battles are fought it is not uncommon for men to die."

Gregory crossed slowly to the window, and stared out at the trees of the park which autumn was fast stripping.

1. What color was Gregory's hair?
2. Was it curly?
3. What did it look like, then?
4. True or False: Joseph had not always been unattractive.
5. What about Gregory?
6. Who is worried by the lack of news?
7. True or False: Gregory and Joseph were father and son.
8. How were they related?
9. What does Joseph say often happens in battles?
10. What season was it?
11. And the month?
12. Did Joseph have brown eyes?
13. How did they look, then?
14. What had the brothers just finished doing?
15. What kind of window did Gregory look out of?
16. What does the window overlook?
17. Which brother is more heavily built?
18. What was the only physical feature they shared?
19. What did Joseph often do when speaking?
20. What had made Gregory unhandsome?

Provide a numbered list of answers.
1. reddish
2. no
3. it hung straight and limp
4. False.
5. No, not always.
6. Gregory
7. False.
8. They were brothers.
9. men die
10. autumn
11. unknown
12. No.
13. colourless
14. dining
15. mullioned windows
16. the trees of the park
17. Gregory
18. the colour of their hair
19. he would sneer
20. debauchery and sloth