Page:Dickens - A Child s History of England, 1900.djvu/490

60 aloud; it will be a very pleasant book for these winter evenings, before all the dissipation begins. It is Pringle's Adventures in South Africa, and is almost as good as Robinson Crusoe. I knew Pringle well: a lame, little man, that you never would dream could sit on a horse, much less ride after lions and elephants in that style."

"Lions and elephants!" all were silent, and George read on. He read until eight o'clock, their bed-time, and the whole group—parents and children—were equally delighted with it. As they closed the book—"Now," said the father, "would it not be grand fun to live out there, and ride after the lions and elephants?"

"Ah! grand fun!" said the boys, but the mother and the girls shuddered at the lions. "Well, you could stay in the house, you know," said Bob.

"Right, my tine fellow," said the father, clapping him on the shoulder. " So now off to bed, and dream all about it."

When the children were gone, my brother Uriah stretched out his feet on the fender and fell into a silence. When my brother's silence had lasted some time, his wife said, "Are you sleepy, my dear?"

"No; never was more wakeful," said Uriah; "really, my dear, I never was less inclined to be sprightly; but it won't do to clash the spirits of the children. Let them enjoy the Christmas as much as they can: they will never be young but once."

"What is amiss ?" asked Mrs. Tattenhall, with a quick, apprehensive look. "Is there something amiss? Good gracious! you frighten me."

"Why no, there is nothing exactly amiss! there is nothing new; but the fact is, I have just taken stock, and to-day finished casting all up and struck the balance."

"And is it bad? Is it less than you expected? " asked .Mrs. Tattenhall, fixing her eyes seriously on her husband's face.

"Bad? No, not bad nor good. I'll tell you what it is. You've heard of a toad in a mud wall. Well that's me. Twenty years ago, I went into business with exactly three thousand pounds, and here I have been trading, and fagging, and caring, and getting, and losing—business extending, and profits getting less and less—making large sales, and men breaking directly after, and so the upshot is,—