It's my duty anyhow, and I will try and not say anything against Foxey next time she speaks of him." The latter part of his resolution Ned found it very hard to maintain, for Mr.Mulready became a not unfrequent visitor.

He had always some excuse for calling, either to bring in a basket of fresh trout, some game, or hothouse fruit, for, as he said, he knew her appetite was delicate and needed tempting, or some book newly issued from the London press which he was sure she would appreciate.
After a short time Mrs.Sankey ceased to speak of these visits, perhaps because she saw how Ned objected to the introduction of Mr.Mulready's name, perhaps for some other reason, and a year passed without Ned's being seriously ruffled on the subject.
Ned was now nearly sixteen.

He had worked hard, and was the head boy at Porson's.

It had always been regarded as a fixed thing that he should go into the army.

As the son of an officer who had lost his leg in the service it was thought that he would be able to obtain a commission without difficulty, and Squire Simmonds, who had been a kind friend since his father's death, had promised to ask the lord lieutenant of the county to interest himself in the matter, and had no doubt that the circumstances of Captain Sankey's death would be considered as an addition to the claim of his services in the army.
Captain Sankey had intended that Ned should have gone to a superior school to finish his education, but the diminished income of the family had put this out of the question, and the subject had never been mooted after his death.