neither of you ever called me a lazy
beast and shied your boots at me because they wasn't black enough, or
called me a fool for not making your water hotter so as you could
shave."

"Why, who did then?" cried Glyn.

"Oh, I am not going to tell tales, gentlemen. Some young gents are born
with tempers and some ain't, while there are some again that come here
as nice and amiable as can be, after a year or two get old and sour and
ready to quarrel with everything. I don't know; but I think sometimes
it's them Greek classics, as they call them. You see, it's such
unchristian-like looking stuff. I have looked at them sometimes in the
Doctor's study. Such heathen-looking letters; not a bit like a decent
alphabet. But there, I must be off, gentlemen. I have all my work
waiting, and I am going away--only think of it!--ten pounds richer than
when I first began to turn that there handle this morning, if--if I stop
here--I mean, if we stop here till you young gents have done schooling."

Wrench finished filling his cans of water and stooped to pick them up,
but set them down again, to look at them both thoughtfully.

"My word, gentlemen, you would both begin to wonder at the times and
times I have laid awake of a night trying to hit a bright--I mean, think
of some idea by which I could make a lot of money all at once: find some
buried in a garden, or bring up a bag of gold in the bottom of one of
those two water-buckets, or have somebody leave me a lot, or pick it up
in the street and find afterwards it belonged to nobody. I wouldn't
care how I got it."

"So long as it was honest, Wrenchy?" said Glyn, laughing.

"Oh, of course, sir--of course. You see, a man's got a character to
lose, and when a man loses his character I suppose it's very hard to
find it again; so I have been told. But I never lost mine. But I do
want to get hold of a nice handy lump of money somehow, and when I do,
and if I do--"

"Well, what would you do then?" cried Singh.

"Well, sir, I shouldn't stop here till you two gents had done
schooling."

Then, picking up his two water-cans once more, the Doctor's footman
trudged off towards the house.

"That must have been old Slegge who threw his boots at him," said Singh
thoughtfully. "What a disagreeable fellow he is!"

"Yes," said Glyn. "I wish I had been there to stop it. He's been
knocking some of the little fellows about shamefully because he says
that they have hidden his bat."

"