if he has no been accustomed to teach, and besides, I look rather suspiciously on his degree. According to all I can make out, he is a man who ought to have got on, and who has not done so. Talent I dare say he may have, but if there is anything morally deficient, that is far worse. And to bring a strange girl to be a companion to my daughters! Who knows what habits and what principles she may communicate? You have not acted with discretion in this matter, Mr. Hammond."
"Why, my dear, you seemed as pleased as Punch at the idea, and now you turn round all at once. If the man has not been successful, is he the first clever good man who has not made money? And it was because his health gave way after his wife's death that he threw up his literary appointments in London, and tries the milder climate. He has been some years on the African Coast—Sierra Leone, I think—in his younger days, and that has told on him."
"Then we are to have an invalid to nurse," said Mrs. Hammond.
"No, not an invalid," said Mr. Hammond, testily.
"The voyage and the climate have done wonders for him, and he seems as sound as you
