Whenever the force was reduced on account of dulness in trade, Andrew was one of the first to be laid aside on waiting orders in the regular army of toil.

On one of these occasions, in the spring after Ellen was fifteen, his first fit of recklessness seized him.

One night, after loafing a week, he came home with fever spots in his cheeks and a curiously bright, strained look in his eyes.

Fanny gazed sharply at him across the supper-table.

Finally she laid down her knife and fork, rested her elbows on the table, and fixed her eyes commandingly upon him.