rt says so, not I). Mind, I'll have no flirting, Ursula; that
is what always happens with a pupil in the house."

"Reginald, how dare you--"

"Oh, yes, I dare; my courage is quite equal to facing you, even if you
do shoot thunderbolts out of your eyes. Mind you, I won't have it. There
is a set of fellows who try it regularly, and if you were above them,
would go in for Janey; and it would be great fun and great promotion for
Janey; she would feel herself a woman directly; so you must mind her as
well as yourself. I don't like it at all," Reginald went on. "Probably
he will complain of the dinners you give him, as if he were in an inn.
Confound him! What my father means by it, I can't tell."

"Reginald, you ought not to swear," said Ursula. "It is dreadfully
wicked in a clergyman. Poor papa meant making a little more money. What
else could he mean? And I think it is very good of him, for it will
bother him most. Mr. Copperhead is very nice, Reginald. I saw him in
London, you know. I thought he was very----".

"Ah! oh!" said Reginald, "I forgot that. You met him in London? To be
sure, and it was there you met Miss Beecham. I begin to see. Is he
coming here after her, I should like to know? She doesn't look the sort
of girl to encourage that sort of thing."

"The sort of girl to encourage that sort of thing! How strangely you
talk when you get excited: isn't that rather vulgar? I don't know if he
is coming after Miss Beecham or not," said Ursula, who thought the
suggestion uncalled for, "but in a very short time you can judge for
yourself."

"Ah--indignation!" said the big brother, who like most big brothers
laughed at Ursula's exhibition of offended dignity; "and, by the way,
Miss Beecham--you have not seen her since that night when she was sent
for. Will not she think it strange that you never sent to inquire?"

"I sent Betsey--"

"But if Miss Beecham had been somebody else, you would have gone
yourself," he said, being in a humour for finding fault. "If poor old
Mrs. Tozer had been what you call a lady--"

"I thought you were much more strong than I am against the Dissenters?"
said Ursula, "ever since that man's speech; and, indeed, always, as long
as I can recollect."

"She is not a mere Dissenter," said Reginald. "I think I shall call as I
go home. She is the cleverest girl I ever met; not like one of you
bread-and-butter girls, though she is not much older than you. A man
finds a girl like that worth talk