he horse.

The proposal had been one of those general invitations to be fulfilled
at any time, and therefore easily set aside; and Dr. May, though
continually thinking he should like to take his girls to Abbotstoke,
never saw the definite time for so doing; and Flora herself, though
charmed with Miss Rivers, and delighted with the prospect of visiting
her, only viewed it as a distant prospect.

There was plenty of immediate interest to occupy them at home, to say
nothing of the increasing employment that Cocksmoor gave to thoughts,
legs, and needles. There was the commencement of the half-year, when
Tom's schoolboy life was to begin, and when it would be proved whether
Norman were able to retain his elevation.

Margaret had much anxiety respecting the little boy about to be sent
into a scene of temptation. Her great confidence was in Richard, who
told her that boys did many more wrong things than were known at home,
and yet turned out very well, and that Tom would be sure to right
himself in the end. Richard had been blameless in his whole school
course, but though never partaking of the other boys' evil practices,
he could not form an independent estimate of character, and his tone had
been a little hurt, by sharing the school public opinion of morality. He
thought Stoneborough and its temptations inevitable, and only wished to
make the best of it. Margaret was afraid to harass her father by laying
the case before him. All her brothers had gone safely through the
school, and it never occurred to her that it was possible that, if her
father knew the bias of Tom's disposition, he might choose, for the
present, at least, some other mode of education.

She talked earnestly to Tom, and he listened impatiently. There is an
age when boys rebel against female rule, and are not yet softened by the
chivalry of manhood, and Tom was at this time of life. He did not like
to be lectured by a sister, secretly disputed her right, and, proud of
becoming a schoolboy, had not the generous deference for her weakness
felt by his elder brothers; he was all the time peeling a stick, as
if to show that he was not attending, and he raised up his shoulder
pettishly whenever she came to a mention of the religious duty of
sincerity. She did not long continue her advice, and, much disappointed
and concerned, tried to console herself with hoping that he might have
heeded more than he seemed to do.

He was placed tolerably high in the school, a