"It is not necessary," said Mr. Jameson. "I shall be very willing to undertake all the expenses of outfit and voyage."
"You are very good, indeed, sir. But," added Mr. Grindlay, "George has a sister, who would break her heart if he left her. She is a good, clever girl, and understands dress-making and millinery well. She works for Madame Roland. I suppose she would easily make a living in the parts you are going to?"
Mr. Jameson was quite agreeable that Esther should be of the party; and Mr. Grindlay under took the charge of her outfit. "But," said our friend, "before we proceed farther, I must know who these young people are; and that their friends have no reasonable objection to our plan."
"They have no friends!" answered Mr. Grindlay, shaking his gray head; "nobody to make any objection, reasonable or otherwise; but, as you are willing to undertake the charge of them, sir, I think it would be only right that you should know the exact truth."
This was the train of circumstances which led to my acquaintance with the present story.
The parents of George and Esther Hammond kept a small but respectable inn, in one of the southern counties of England. The house was not situated in a town, nor yet very far from one, but it was a pretty rural spot, with a bowling green and garden; and it was a common thing for the inhabitants of the neighboring city to make parties there on Sundays and holidays, to dine and drink cider, for which the house was famous. It was, indeed, an extremely well-kept, clean, comfortable, little inn, the merit of which good keeping was chiefly referred by the public voice to Mrs. Hammond: an industrious, hard-working, thrifty woman. She was generally reputed to be more than thrifty. It was often remarked that when Hammond himself was absent from home, the tables were less liberally served, and the charge higher, than when he was there to moderate her besetting sin--the love of gain. Still, she was an excellent wife, and a good hostess; and she was devoted to her husband and her two children, George and Esther. In short, she was a woman who took every thing in earnest, and she loved her family, as she worked for them, with all her energies. She loved her children wisely, too: for she was extremely anxious to give them the best education she could afford; and, although, as was consistent with her character, she kept them somewhat rigidly, she was essentially a kind mother.