Tom. Grumps has shown a cause. Why? 'It' said she was not an
improper person; but, for all that, she is so angry with Uncle Tom
that she will not come back, but has accepted an offer to go to
Canada as companion to a lady; so farewell Grumps.

"Now for Uncle Tom. 'It' suggested that I should live with some
of my relations till I came of age, and pay them four hundred a
year, which I think a good deal. I am sure it can't cost four
hundred a year to feed me, though I have such an appetite. I had
no idea they were all so fond of me before; they all want me to
come and live with them, except Aunt Chambers, who, you know,
lives in Jersey. Uncle Tom says in his letter that he shall be
glad if his daughters can have the advantage of my example, and of
studying my polished manners (just fancy _my_ polished manners;
and I know, because little Tom, who is a brick, told me, that only
last year he heard his father tell Emily--that's the eldest--that
I was a dowdy, snub-nosed, ill-mannered miss, but that she must
keep in with me and flatter me up). No, I will not live with Uncle
Tom, and I will tell 'it' so. If I must leave my home, I will go
to Aunt Chambers at Jersey. Jersey is a beautiful place for
flowers, and one learns French there without the trouble of
learning it; and I like Aunt Chambers, and she has no children,
and nothing but the memory of a dear departed. But I don't like
leaving home, and feel very much inclined to cry. _Hang_ the Court
of Chancery, and Uncle Tom and his interference too!--_there_. I
suppose you can't find time to come over to-morrow morning to see
me off? Good-bye, dear Philip,

"Your affectionate friend,
"Maria Lee."

Philip did manage to find time next morning, and came back looking
very disconsolate.

CHAPTER IV

Philip went to college in due course, and George departed to learn his
business as a lawyer in Roxham, but it will not be necessary for us to
enter into the details of their respective careers during this period
of their lives.

At college Philip did fairly well, and, being a Caresfoot, did not run
into debt. He was, as his great bodily strength gave promise of, a
first-class athlete, and for two years stroked the Magdalen boat. Nor
did he altogether neglect his books, but his reading was of a
desultory and o