Skinner might
have perhaps kept him a little more in his proper place if she had
thought it worth while to try, but she had enough to attend to in
looking after her household and seeing that the boys were well fed
and, if they were ill, properly looked after- which she took good care
they were.
CHAPTER XXVIII
ERNEST had heard awful accounts of Dr. Skinner's temper, and of
the bullying which the younger boys at Roughborough had to put up with
at the hands of the bigger ones. He had now got about as much as he
could stand, and felt as though it must go hard with him if his
burdens of whatever kind were to be increased. He did not cry on
leaving home, but I am afraid he did on being told that he was getting
near Roughborough. His father and mother were with him, having
posted from home in their own carriage; Roughborough had as yet no
railway, and as it was only some forty miles from Battersby, this
was the easiest way of getting there.
On seeing him cry, his mother felt flattered and caressed him. She
said she knew he must feel very sad at leaving such a happy home,
and going among people who, though they would be very good to him,
could never, never be as good as his dear papa and she had been;
still, she was herself, if he only knew it, much more deserving of
pity than he was, for the parting was more painful to her than it
could possibly be to him, etc.
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