OR, CLARENCE MORTIMER. 97

 

<< What nonsense, Clare,” sneered Dick.
‘¢ Don’t you disobey } her every day 0 of your
Bhan 4 In going with us?”

‘Yes, L know it,” said Clare. « But
then that seemed to me so very unreasonable,
to tell me not to have anything to say to
| you. Mother : is so good herself, that she is
apt to be a little hard on people some-
times.” |

Clare was trying to apologize to himself,
for having yielded to his own wishes in this
matter. |

‘‘ Yes, that is just it,” said Ben, eagerly.
‘* Your mother is a splendid woman, but she
is a little too-hard on boys. If you hada
father, now, you would not be kept half so.
close.” hy se

*¢ If I were you, Clare,” said Dick, in his

_ most insinuating manner, ‘‘I would not give