he was not a gentleman.

In time, after an absence of nearly two years, Mrs. Fane came home for a
long time; but Michael did not feel any of those violent emotions of joy
that once he used to feel when he saw her cab rounding the corner. He
was shy of his mother, and she for her part seemed shy of him and told
Miss Carthew that school had not improved Michael. She wondered, too,
why he always seemed anxious to be playing with other boys.

"It's quite natural," Miss Carthew pointed out.

"Darling Michael. I suppose it is," Mrs. Fane agreed vaguely. "But he's
so grubby and inky nowadays."

Michael maintained somewhat indignantly that all the boys at Randell's
were like him, for he was proud that by being grubby and inky no boy
could detect in him any inclination to differentiate himself from the
mass. At Randell's, where there was one way only of thinking and
behaving and speaking, it would have been grossly cocky to be brushed
and clean. Michael resented his mother's attempt to dress him nicely and
was almost rude when she suggested ideas for charming and becoming
costumes.

"I do think boys are funny," she used to sigh.

"Well, mother," Michael would argue, "if I wore a suit like that, all
the other boys would notice it."

"But I think it's nice to be noticed," Mrs. Fane would contend.

"I think it's beastly," Michael always said.

"I wish you wouldn't use that horrid word," his mother would say
disapprovingly.

"All the boys do," was Michael's invariable last word.

Then, "Michael," Miss Carthew would say sharply, as she fixed him with
that cold look which he so much dreaded. Michael would blush and turn
away, abashed; while Stella's company would be demanded by his mother
instead of his, and Stella would come into the room all lily-rosed
beside her imp-like brother.

Stella was held by Michael to be affected, and he would often point out
to her how little such behaviour would be tolerated at a boys' school.
Stella's usual reply was to pout, a form of expression which came under
the category of affectations, or she would cry, which was a degree worse
and was considered to be as good as sneaking outright. Michael often
said he hoped that school would improve Stella's character and
behaviour; yet when she went to school, Michael thought that not only
was she none the better for the experience, but he was even inclined to
suggest that she was very much the worse. Tiresome little girl friends
came to tea som