Humphrey, to save further trouble, appeared not to notice the act. The
lady, who was an intimate friend, asked Mrs. Humphrey if she were not
pursuing a wrong course in thus allowing the boy to do what she had once
forbidden him?
"Oh," said Mrs. Humphrey, "he is but a child, and will become ashamed
of such conduct as he grows older."
"I sincerely hope he may," replied the lady, "but I very much fear you
will see a day when you will regret not having been more firm in your
government of this child."
CHAPTER V.
Nine years have rolled by the with their various changes since we first
introduced Earnest Harwood to the reader, a child of five years of age,
weeping at the grave of his mother.
Let us again glance at him when he has nearly attained to the age of
fourteen years. We find him grown a strong healthy youth, still
retaining that wondrous beauty which had rendered him so remarkable in
the days of his childhood.
The reader will doubtless be ready to enquire if his mind and character
are equally lovely with his person. Would that it were in my power to
give a favourable answer to the question. But the truth must be told,
and, at the age of fourteen, Ernest Harwood was decidedly a bad boy.
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