"'Oh yes, Susan,' said she, 'be sure it is so. Whom the Lord loveth he
chasteneth, Susan,' and here she began to cry again. 'As for him,' she
went on, 'he has made his bed, and he must lie on it; when he comes out
of prison his pa will know what is best to be done, and Master Ernest may
be thankful that he has a pa so good and so long-suffering.'
"Then when you would not see them, that was a cruel blow to your ma. Your
pa did not say anything; you know your pa never does say very much unless
he's downright waxy for the time; but your ma took on dreadful for a few
days, and I never saw the master look so black; but, bless you, it all
went off in a few days, and I don't know that there's been much
difference in either of them since then, not till your ma was took ill."
On the night of his arrival he had behaved well at family prayers, as
also on the following morning; his father read about David's dying
injunctions to Solomon in the matter of Shimei, but he did not mind it.
In the course of the day, however, his corns had been trodden on so many
times that he was in a misbehaving humour, on this the second night after
his arrival. He knelt next Charlotte and said the responses
perfunctorily, not so perfunctorily that she should know for certain that
he was doing it maliciously, but so perfunctorily as to make her
uncertain whether he might be malicious or not, and when he had to pray
to be made truly honest and conscientious he emphasised the "truly.
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