He liked some
things for a little while, and then found he did not like them any
more--and this was as bad as anything well could be. His father's letter
gave him one of his many fits of melancholy over his own worthlessness,
but the thought of the organ consoled him, and he felt sure that here at
any rate was something to which he could apply himself steadily without
growing tired of it.
It was settled that the organ was not to be begun before the Christmas
holidays were over, and that till then Ernest should do a little plain
carpentering, so as to get to know how to use his tools. Miss Pontifex
had a carpenter's bench set up in an outhouse upon her own premises, and
made terms with the most respectable carpenter in Roughborough, by which
one of his men was to come for a couple of hours twice a week and set
Ernest on the right way; then she discovered she wanted this or that
simple piece of work done, and gave the boy a commission to do it, paying
him handsomely as well as finding him in tools and materials. She never
gave him a syllable of good advice, or talked to him about everything's
depending upon his own exertions, but she kissed him often, and would
come into the workshop and act the part of one who took an interest in
what was being done so cleverly as ere long to become really interested.
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