He could see that they eyed him from time to time
with a surprise not unmixed with indignation, and knew very well what
they were thinking.
Christina saw the change which had come over him--how much firmer and
more vigorous both in mind and body he seemed than when she had last seen
him. She saw too how well he was dressed, and, like the others, in spite
of the return of all her affection for her first-born, was a little
alarmed about Theobald's pocket, which she supposed would have to be
mulcted for all this magnificence. Perceiving this, Ernest relieved her
mind and told her all about his aunt's bequest, and how I had husbanded
it, in the presence of his brother and sister--who, however, pretended
not to notice, or at any rate to notice as a matter in which they could
hardly be expected to take an interest.
His mother kicked a little at first against the money's having gone to
him as she said "over his papa's head." "Why, my dear," she said in a
deprecating tone, "this is more than ever your papa has had"; but Ernest
calmed her by suggesting that if Miss Pontifex had known how large the
sum would become she would have left the greater part of it to Theobald.
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