1o6 DOGGED 7A CK.

assumed carelessness, and trying to prevent a grati-
fied look from coming into his face.
 "Every one says I'm like father," said Jack proudly,
with a shy glance towards his parent.
 "You are, no doubt, tired," said Mr. Gilbert, pushing
his son into the background as he spoke; for it was
quite against his ideas of the fitness of things to
make boys a subject of conversation before their
faces. "Would you not like to rest in your room
before we dine ?"
 Mrs. Leslie was tired, as indeed she looked; so,
attended by little Polly, she went to her room, and
then having spoken to the child for a few minutes,
bade her run off into the garden and join the boys.
 Mrs. Leslie was Mr. Gilbert's only sister, to whom
he was much attached. She was several years
younger than he was, and had married when very
young. Dick was her only child; and as his father
had been dead now for four years, he was his mother's
only hope and joy.
 A good, warm-hearted, sturdy fellow he was, too,
with a chivalrous devotion to his mother, whom he
considered to be under his own peculiar guardianship
and care. Although a determined, bold, and some-
what headstrong lad, naturally passionate and hot-
tempered, he yet was completely under the control of
his mild and gentle mother. In fact, the mere notion