Indeed, Madam How is so patient that some people fancy her stupid, and think that, because she does not fall into a passion every time you steal her sweets, or break her crockery, or disarrange her furniture, therefore she does not care.

But I advise you as a little boy, and still more when you grow up to be a man, not to get that fancy into your head; for you will find that, however good-natured and patient Madam How is in most matters, her keeping silence and not seeming to see you is no sign that she has forgotten.

On the contrary, she bears a grudge (if one may so say, with all respect to her) longer than any one else does; because she will always have her own again.

Indeed, I sometimes think that if it were not for Lady Why, her mistress, she might bear some of her grudges for ever and ever.

I have seen men ere now damage some of Madam How's property when they were little boys, and be punished by her all their lives long, even though she had mended the broken pieces, or turned them to some other use.