e
said, a chum o' your brother. But he was goin' too fast for me, and
that made me split with him. I tried at first to make him hold in a
bit; but what was the use of a black sheep like me tryin' to make a
white sheep o' _him_! The thing was so absurd that he laughed at it;
indeed, we both laughed at it. Your mother was at that time very poorly
off--made a miserable livin' by dressmakin'. Indeed, she'd have bin
half starved if I hadn't given her a helpin' hand in a small way now an'
then. She was very grateful, and very friendly wi' me, for I was very
fond of her, and she know'd that, bad as I was, I tried to restrain her
son to some extent. So she told me about her wish to git you well out
o' the house, an' axed me if I'd go an' put you in a school down at
Brighton, which she know'd was a good an' a cheap one.

"Of course I said I would, for, you see, the poor thing was that hard
worked that she couldn't git away from her stitch-stitchin', not even
for an hour, much less a day. When I got down to the school, before
goin' up to the door it came into my head that it would be better that
the people should know you was well looked after, so says I to you,
quite sudden, `Betty, remember you're to call me father when you speak
about me.' You turned your great blue eyes to my face, dear lass, when
I said that, with a puzzled look.

"`Me sought mamma say father was far far away in other country,' says
you.

"`That's true,' says I, `but I've come home from the other country, you
see, so don't you forget to call me father.'

"`Vewy well, fadder,' says you, in your own sweet way, for you was
always a biddable child, an' did what you was told without axin'
questions.

"Well, when I'd putt you in the school an' paid the first quarter in
advance, an' told 'em that the correspondence would be done chiefly
through your mother, I went back to London, puzzlin' my mind all the way
what I'd say to your mother for what I'd done. Once it came into my
head I would ax her to marry me--for she was a widow by that time--an'
so make the deception true. But I quickly putt that notion a one side,
for I know'd I might as well ax an angel to come down from heaven an
dwell wi' me in a backwoods shanty--but, after all," said Paul, with a
quiet laugh, "I did get an angel to dwell wi' me in a backwoods shanty
when I got you, Betty! Howsever, as things turned out I was saved the
trouble of explainin'.

"When I got back I found your mo