St. Austin's Court (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1863 edition. Excerpt: ...though Walter several times goodnaturedly offered to stay in her stead. But the boy was not at all satisfied with walks under his grandmother's care; he wanted the dignity of independence, and every day this wish was brought forward, more or less directly. "Grandmama, when may I go out by myself?" "Must I always wait till you come in? Indeed I can quite take care of myself alone--I know all about it now." At last it came to the significant inquiry--"Grandmama, did you always take papa to school and bring him home again?" "No, Walter; but he was used to London" "So am I, too, now," was the doleful rejoinder. "I mean, my dear, he was born here, and learned by degrees how to manage. And there was another difference--wait a little longer; in time you may be trusted, I have no doubt." "In time," thought Walter. "When will that be, I wonder?" The difference between her son and her grandson, Mrs. Aston saw, was not in habit only, but in nature. The former was rather grave, and very steady. When not in school, his greatest pleasure was to read to his mother, or to talk to her of what he had read. As the streets were never new to him, he did not feel that temptation to loiter by the way and look about him, to which he might have been liable had he been a stranger. Moreover, though his parents never talked to him about bad people or evil ways, he was aware that, unhappily, there are such people and such ways, and that, in order to avoid them, he must be careful not to speak to any one he did not know, except in answer to a civil question. So he was perfectly safe and trustworthy in his daily goings to and fro. But his son was the reverse of him in all respects: he had, ...