The heads of the house did not interfere with him. Lady Ann would now and then sail through the room like an iceberg. Sir Wilton would come in, give a glance at the shelves and grin, and walk out again with a more or less rowdy gait. Arthur was a little ashamed of having spoken to Richard as he did and had become a little more friendly. He was on the way to perceiving that, in certain insignificant things such as imagination, reading, and insight, not to mention conscience, generosity, and goodness of heart, Richard far outstripped him. And even in some of the things which had been thought a good deal of at his college, Richard was more capable than himself. In literature Arthur had already learned something from Richard, and knew it. He had indeed, without knowing it, begun to look up to him.

Richard had also discovered good in Arthur—among other things, a careful regard to his word, and to his father’s tenantry, even though there yet remained, in a scanty nature like his, a good deal of condescension mingled with his behaviour to his social inferiors.

The only one in the house who gave Richard trouble, was the child Victoria. The way she always took to show her liking, was to annoy its object. Never was name less fitting than hers—there was no victory in her. She could but fly about like a mosquito.

Richard let her come and go unheeded, except when her proximity to his work made him anxious. But the little vixen would rather be abused than remain unnoticed. When she found that her standing and staring procured no attention from the bookbinder, she would begin to handle his tools, and ask what this and that was for, giving, like a woman of fashion, no heed to any answer he accorded her. Learning by experiment how to annoy him, she did not let opportunity pass. When school was over in the morning, and she could go where she pleased, she went often to the library. And as no one willingly asked where she was, the chief pleasure of her acquaintance lying in the assurance that she was nowhere at hand, Richard had to endure many things from her. And things that do not seem worth enduring, are not unfrequently the hardest to endure.