now began to make up. But he
was by no means deprived of company at home. The Allans, as has been
said, were fond of entertaining their friends, and at their "sociables"
and "tea parties" Edgar was generally required to be present, with one
or two young friends to keep him company, and often he was treated to a
"party" of his own--boys and girls--where a rigid etiquette was
required, though dancing and charades were indulged in. This was Mrs.
Allan's idea of affording him enjoyment and cultivating in him elegant
and graceful manners; but to him it was most distasteful. Throughout his
life he detested social companies. Mrs. Mackenzie, in speaking of the
social restraint under which the Allans at this time sought to keep
Edgar, said that it was very distasteful to the boy, who liked to choose
his companions, and who now, at the age of fifteen, began to be
dissatisfied and to think that he was subject to undue restraint at
home. She often heard him express the wish that he had been adopted by
Mr. Mackenzie instead of by Mr. Allan; and she would talk to him in her
motherly way, endeavoring to impress him with a sense of what he owed to
the latter. His disposition, she said, was very sweet and affectionate,
and he was grateful for any kindness, and always happy to be at her
house as much as he was allowed to be from home. Her son John could
never be persuaded to visit Edgar at his home, so strict was the
etiquette observed at table and in general behavior. She believed that
Mr. Allan, in taking charge of Edgar, had been influenced more by a
desire to please his wife than any real interest in the child, though he
had conscientiously endeavored to do his duty by him. She had once heard
him say that Edgar did not know the meaning of the word _gratitude_; to
which she replied that it could not be expected of children, who were
not able to understand their obligations; and that she did not at
present look for gratitude from Rose, but for affection and obedience.
Mrs. Allan was devoted to Edgar and he was very fond of her. It was she,
Mrs. Mackenzie thought, rather than her husband, who so extravagantly
supplied him with money, seeming to take a pride in his having more than
his schoolmates. She was a good and amiable woman, fond of pleasure
generally, and less domestic in her tastes than either her husband or
sister.

Mr. John Mackenzie, in speaking of Edgar, bore witness to his high
spirit and pluckiness in occasional schoolboy