Page 95 - Fairbrass

and though, unlike his friends the Poplar-

trees, he had not been in the least degree
shocked when the gallant young horseman,

having declared his honest love, had taken
his sister in his arms, and in broad daylight

had kissed her, a sense of shame came over
the boy when he knew that his father had so

soon borrowed that ^500. He did not like,
too, the hint thrown out that a reconciliation

between the Big House and the Little
House was only a question of time, for he

had over and over again heard his father
declare that he would rather starve than

give way ; and that his grandfather had
made a will in which he had left all his

money to charities, and not one penny to
his kith and kin, was known to everyone,

‘ Ah ! ' thought Fairbrass, 4 if only that
reconciliation could be brought about, how

everything would be put straight ! My
father could give up his worrying business,

my mother could spend as much money as
she liked, my sister could have a little

fortune of her own, all the others could