Mr Benson dropped his head upon his hands, and hid his face, and sighed deeply.
Leonard flew in search of his mother, as in search of a refuge.

If he had found her calm, he would have burst into a passion of crying after his agitation; as it was, he came upon her kneeling and sobbing, and he stood quite still.

Then he threw his arms round her neck, and said: "Mamma! mamma! I will be good--I make a promise; I will speak true--I make a promise." And he kept his word.
Miss Benson piqued herself upon being less carried away by her love for this child than any one else in the house; she talked severely, and had capital theories; but her severity ended in talk, and her theories would not work.

However, she read several books on education, knitting socks for Leonard all the while; and, upon the whole, I think, the hands were more usefully employed than the head, and the good honest heart better than either.

She looked older than when we first knew her, but it was a ripe, kindly age that was coming over her.