their father's heart could not fail to be melted.

Pip put on his school jacket, brushed his hair, took a pile of
school books, and proceeded to the study where his father was
writing letters, and where he was allowed to do his home-lessons.

"Well, what do you want?" said the Captain, with a frown. "No,
it's no good coming to the about that pup, sir--I won't have you
keep it."

"I came to study, sir," said Pip mildly. "I feel I'm a bit
backward with my mathematics, so I won't waste all the holidays,
when I'm costing you so much in school fees."

The Captain gave a little gasp and looked hard at Pip; but the
boy's face was so unsmiling and earnest that he was disarmed,
and actually congratulated himself that his eldest son was at
last seeing the error of his ways.

"There are those sets of problems in that drawer that I did when
I was at school," he said graciously. "If they are of any use
to you, you can get them out."

"Thanks awfully--they will be a great help," said Pip gratefully.

He examined them with admiration plainly depicted upon his face.

"How very clearly and correctly you worked, Father," he said
with a sigh. "I wonder if ever I'll get as good as this! How
old were you, Father, when you did them?"

"About your age," said the Captain, picking up the papers.

He examined them with his head on one side. He was rather proud
of them, seeing he had utterly forgotten now how to work decimal
fractions, and could not have done a quadratic equation to save his
life.

"Still, I don't think you need be quite discouraged, Pip. I was
rather beyond the other boys in my class in these subjects, I
remember. We can't all excel in the same thing, and I'm glad to
see you are beginning to realize the importance of work."

"Yes, Father."

Meg had betaken herself to the drawing-room, and was sitting on the
floor before the music canterbury with scissors, thimble, and a
roll of narrow blue ribbon on her knee, and all her father's songs,
that he so often complained were falling to pieces, spread out
before her.

He saw her once as he passed the door, and looked surprised and
pleased.

"Thank you, Margaret: they wanted it badly. I am glad you can
make yourself useful, after all," he said.

"Yes, Father."

Meg stitched on industriously.

He went back to his study, where Pip's head was at a studious,
absorbed angle, and pyramids of books and sheaves of paper were
on the table. He wrote two more le