at once.
Tom grumbled sometimes when one of his Oxford friends came to dinner. He
and Christine used to bewail the shabby covers in the drawing-room.

"It is such a pretty room if it were only furbished off a bit," Tom said
once. "Why don't you girls coax the governor to let you do it up?" Tom
never used the word governor unless he was in a grumbling mood, for he
knew how his father hated it.

"I don't think father can afford anything this year, Tom," Bessie
returned, in her fearless way. "Why do you ask your grand friends if you
think they will look down on us? We don't pretend to be rich people.
They will find the chairs very comfortable if they will condescend to
sit on them, and the tables as strong as other people's tables; and
though the carpet is a little faded, there are no holes to trip your
friends up."

"Oh, shut up, Betty!" returned Tom, restored to good humor by her honest
sarcasm. "Ferguson will come if I ask him. I think he is a bit taken
with old Chrissy." And so ended the argument.

CHAPTER IV.

A COSY MORNING.

Breakfast was half over before Miss Sefton made her appearance; but her
graceful apology for her tardiness was received by Dr. Lambert in the
most indulgent manner. In spite of his love of punctuality, and his
stringent rules for his household in this respect, he could not have
found it in his heart to rebuke the pretty, smiling creature who told
him so naively that early rising disagreed with her and put her out for
the day.

"I tell mamma that I require a good deal of sleep, and, fortunately, she
believes me," finished Edna complacently.

Well, it was not like the doctor to hold his peace at this glaring
opposition to his favorite theory, and yet, to Tom's astonishment, he
forebore to quote that threadbare and detestable adage, "Early to bed
and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise"--proverbial
and uncomfortable philosophy that Tom hated with all his foolish young
heart. Tom, in his budding manhood, often thought fit to set this
domestic tyranny at defiance, and would argue at some length that his
father was wrong in laying down rules for the younger generation.

"If my father likes to get up early, no one can find any fault with him
for doing it," Tom would say; "but he need not impose his venerable and
benighted opinions upon us. Great men are not always wise; even
intellectual veterans like Dr. Johnson, and others I can mention, if you
only give me time,