But fathers and mothers are sometimes apt to think that more should be done for their own children than a friend's best ability can afford.

These people, however, were reasonable.

'Poor Dick!' 'Isn't it sad ?' 'I suppose when he's quite far away in the bush like that he can't get it,'-- by which last miserable shred of security the poor mother allowed herself to be in some degree comforted.
'Now I want you to tell me,' said the father, when they were alone together on the first evening, 'what is really his condition ?' 'He was a shepherd when I last heard about him.' 'He wrote to his mother by the last mail, asking whether something cannot be done for him.

He was a shepherd then.

What is a shepherd ?' 'A man who goes about with the sheep all day, and brings them up to a camp at night.