"PROBABLE SONS"
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. AN UNWELCOME LEGACY
CHAPTER III. HE FIRST PUNISHMENT
CHAPTER IV. MRS. MAXWELL'S SORROW
CHAPTER VII. CROSS-EXAMINATION
CHAPTER VIII. "HE AROSE AND CAME TO HIS FATHER"
CHAPTER IX. "A LITTLE CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM"
CHAPTER I.
"Children! They are a nuisance to everyone—my abomination, as you know,Jack. Why on earth they can not be kept out of sight altogether tillthey reach a sensible age is what puzzles me! And I suppose if anythingcould make the matter worse, it is that this is a girl."
The tone of disgust with which the last word was uttered brought a laughfrom Sir Edward Wentworth's companion, who replied, as he took his cigarfrom his mouth and gazed critically into the worried, perplexed face ofhis host—
"My dear fellow, she is not of an age yet to trouble you much. Wait tillshe gets a bit older. When her education is finished, and she takespossession of you and your house, will be the time for you to look tous for pity!"
"Look here, Sir Edward," said a bright looking youth from the other sideof the room, "I'll give you a bit of advice. Send the child straight offto school. Is she coming to-day? Good. Then pack her off to-morrow, andkeep her there as long as is needful. Then I will go down and inspecther, and if she grows up to be a moderately decent-looking girl, I willdo you a good turn by taking her off your hands. She will have a nicelittle fortune, you informed us, and if you will give her something inaddition, out of gratitude to me for relieving you of all responsibilityconcerning her, upon my word I think I should not do badly!"
But Sir Edward was not in a mood to joke. He looked gloomily around uponhis friends as they gathered around the smoking-room fire after a hardday's shooting, and remarked—
"I know what is before me. I have seen it in my sister's family, andhave heard something of all her toils and troubles. How thankful I waswhen she and hers were translated to Australia, and the sea came betweenus! It is first the nurses, who run off with one's butler, make love tothe keepers, and bring all kinds of followers about the house, whosometimes make off with one's plate. Then it's the governesses, who comeand have a try at the guests, or most likely in my case they would settheir affections on me, and get the reins of government entirely intotheir hands. If it is school, then there is a mass of correspondenceabout the child's health and training; and, in addition, I s