His
father's letter gave him one of his many fits of melancholy over his
own worthlessness, but the thought of the organ consoled him, and he
felt sure that here at any rate was something to which he could
apply himself steadily without growing tired of it.
It was settled that the organ was not to be begun before the
Christmas holidays were over, and that till then Ernest should do a
little plain carpentering, so as to get to know how to use his
tools. Miss Pontifex had a carpenter's bench set up in an outhouse
upon her own premises, and made terms with the most respectable
carpenter in Roughborough, by which one of his men was to come for a
couple of hours twice a week and set Ernest on the right way; then she
discovered she wanted this or that simple piece of work done, and gave
the boy a commission to do it, paying him handsomely as well as
finding him in tools and materials. She never gave him a syllable of
good advice, or talked to him about everything's depending upon his
own exertions, but she kissed him often, and would come into the
workshop and act the part of one who took an interest in what was
being done so cleverly as ere long to become really interested.
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