a man's life. Of course he is
young yet, but if he goes regularly for an hour two or three times a
week to one of the light-weight men, I have no doubt that when he
returns he will be able to astonish any of these street ruffians who may
interfere with him.

"Even if he is never called upon to use his fists, it will do him a
great deal of good, for boxing gives a quickness and readiness not only
of hands, but of thought, that is of great service; and moreover, the
exercise improves the figure, and is, in that respect, I think, fully
equal to fencing. Please put this matter in hand as soon as he arrives.
As to his studies, I own that I care very little; the boy speaks
half-a-dozen languages, any one of which is vastly more useful to a
resident here than Latin and Greek together. Naturally he will learn
Latin. Of course his Italian will facilitate this, and it is part of a
gentleman's education to be able to understand a quotation or turn a
phrase in it. Still, it is not for this that I send him to England, but
to become an English boy, and that your Bob and Arthur and his
school-fellows will teach him."

Edgar was quite as much surprised at his cousins and school-fellows as
they were with him. The fact that he could talk half-a-dozen languages
was to them amazing, while not less astonishing to him was their
ignorance of the affairs of Europe except, indeed, of the French
Revolution--their vagueness in geography, and the absolute blank of
their minds as to Egypt. It was not until three months after his arrival
that he had his first fight, and the instructions he had received during
that time sufficed to enable him to win so easy a victory, that it was
some months before he had again occasion to use his fists in earnest.
This time it was in the streets. He was returning home with his cousins,
when a pert young clerk thought it a good joke to twitch off his cap and
throw it into a shop, and was astounded when, before the cap had reached
the floor, he himself was prostrate on the pavement.

He was no coward, however, and leapt up, furious, to punish this boy of
fourteen, but in spite of his superior strength and weight, he was no
match for Edgar, whose quickness on his legs enabled him to avoid his
rushes, while he planted his blows so quickly and heavily that in ten
minutes the clerk was unable to see out of his eyes, and had to be led
away amid the jeers of the crowd. This success increased Edgar's ardour
to perfect him