What I am now anxious to remedy is, if possible, the state of this poor little Gregson's mind.
Would not hard work in the fields be a wholesome and excellent way of enabling him to forget ?" "I was in hopes, my lady, that you would have permitted me to bring him up to act as a kind of clerk," said Mr.Horner, jerking out his project abruptly.
"A what ?" asked my lady, in infinite surprise.
"A kind of--of assistant, in the way of copying letters and doing up accounts.

He is already an excellent penman and very quick at figures." "Mr.Horner," said my lady, with dignity, "the son of a poacher and vagabond ought never to have been able to copy letters relating to the Hanbury estates; and, at any rate, he shall not.

I wonder how it is that, knowing the use he has made of his power of reading a letter, you should venture to propose such an employment for him as would require his being in your confidence, and you the trusted agent of this family.

Why, every secret (and every ancient and honourable family has its secrets, as you know, Mr.Horner) would be learnt off by heart, and repeated to the first comer!" "I should have hoped to have trained him, my lady, to understand the rules of discretion." "Trained! Train a barn-door fowl to be a pheasant, Mr.Horner! That would be the easier task.

But you did right to speak of discretion rather than honour.