What
should a boy of his age know about the 'Messiah'? If I had shown half as
many dangerous tendencies when I was a boy, my father would have
apprenticed me to a greengrocer, of that I'm very sure," etc., etc.
Then his thoughts turned to Egypt and the tenth plague. It seemed to him
that if the little Egyptians had been anything like Ernest, the plague
must have been something very like a blessing in disguise. If the
Israelites were to come to England now he should be greatly tempted not
to let them go.
Mrs Theobald's thoughts ran in a different current. "Lord Lonsford's
grandson--it's a pity his name is Figgins; however, blood is blood as
much through the female line as the male, indeed, perhaps even more so if
the truth were known. I wonder who Mr Figgins was. I think Mrs Skinner
said he was dead, however, I must find out all about him. It would be
delightful if young Figgins were to ask Ernest home for the holidays. Who
knows but he might meet Lord Lonsford himself, or at any rate some of
Lord Lonsford's other descendants?"
Meanwhile the boy himself was still sitting moodily before the fire in
Mrs Jay's room. "Papa and Mamma," he was saying to himself, "are much
better and cleverer than anyone else, but, I, alas! shall never be either
good or clever.
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