I shall like this Mr. Learning," said Dick, a merry,
intelligent boy, with bright eyes that were always twinkling with fun.
None of his age could excel him in racing or running; he could climb a
tree like a squirrel, and clear a haycock with a bound. He loved the
free careless life which he had led in his mother's home, but still he
wished for one more full of adventure and excitement.

"I'm quite sure that I shall not like Mr. Learning," cried Matty; "for
I have seen him two or three times, and I did not fancy his looks at
all. He is as solemn and as grave as an owl; he wears spectacles, and
has a very long nose, and his back is as stiff as a poker." Matty was a
pretty little girl, with blue eyes, and golden curls hanging down her
neck, but she had a conceited air, which spoiled her looks to my mind.

"I wish that we could stay where we are, and go on as we always have
done, without being plagued by Mr. Learning at all," cried Lubin, with a
weary yawn. Such a fat little fellow as he was, just the shape of a
roly-poly pudding, with cheeks as red as the apples that grew on the
trees in the orchard.

"But mother spoke kindly of him," said Nelly, a pale lame child who sat
in the corner of the room, stringing buttercups and daisies; "if she
likes him, should not we try to like him, and not set our hearts against
what mother thinks for our good."

"Perhaps Mr. Learning's company may be pleasant for a change!" cried
Dick. "I hear that he gives lots of presents to his friends, and makes
them both rich and great. It would be a stupid thing, after all, to
spend all one's life in gathering wild-flowers, or kicking up one's
heels in the hay. I mean to be famous one day, and they say there's no
way of being so without the help of old Learning. There's Mr. Sharp
that lives at the hall; his beautiful house and grounds, his carriages,
horses and dogs, all came from Mr. Learning. I've heard of people who,
when they were boys, were so poor that they hardly had bread to eat,
whom Mr. Learning took under his care, and now they've lots of good
things of every sort and kind. Sometimes they're asked to dine with the
Lord Mayor of London, where they feast upon turtle and champagne--"

Fat little Lubin opened wide both his eyes and mouth on hearing of this.

"And sometimes," continued Dick, "they are actually invited to court,
being high in the favour of the Queen."

"I should like to go to court," said Matty, "and wear fine feathers an