46 BRAGGADOCIO.

One of his ragged companions instantly
knocked off the young dandy’s hat into the
mud, and then ran; George followed, thrash-
ing him at every step.

Howard Framingham deliberately stepped
up to the little rascal who had first insulted
George, and with one blow felled him to the
ground. A crowd was now collecting.- Mrs.
Cramer and Ada, much terrified and ashamed,
stepped within the yard in front of Trinity
Church.

“What did you knock that boy down for ?”
said a carman, seizing Howard by the collar.

* Because he insulted the boy who was
walking with me,” calmly replied Howard
Framingham. “Pick up that hat.”

There was something in Howard’s air and
manner that the Irish carman understood at
once. He relaxed his grasp, touched his own
ragged cap, and picking up the hat, brushed it
with his sleeve, and handed it to Howard with
a respectful bow, saying, “ You are a gintle-
man, and a gintleman’s son.”

“That’s no reason why he should knock a
poor boy down in the street,” said a stout