“Well I’d rather copy Bruce than that little frog-eating Frenchman, any day!” cried Harry. “You think he’s all right just because he bows and scrapes and grins every time he sees you coming. But if you were to play with him and the rest of those fellows, as I did, you’d soon find out that they’re not half as nice as they seem. Besides, I’ll bet that Bruce could lick any two of them with one hand tied behind his back.”
“Well, there are better things than being able to lick other boys, even with both hands tied behind your back,” rejoined Laura, “and I think that Victor is one of the nicest boys I ever met.”
“Well, you can have him for all I care, but I’d like to see Bruce again, and as soon as we get ashore I’m going down to hunt him up.”
“You will do nothing of the sort, Harry,” interjected Mr. Reed, in a tone of quiet determination. “You may remember, perhaps, that your father has forbidden you to have anything to do with that young Decker, and I am quite sure that you at least, Laura, have not forgotten the circumstances which led to his making that rule. So I particularly caution you not to set your hearts upon renewing an acquaintance which your father does not consider a desirable one, and my advice is not to mention the matter in his presence.”
The tutor’s words ended all discussion of the young fireman, and very soon afterwards the children went down stairs to make their final preparations for landing. Laura had been partly in earnest in what she said about Bruce. She had made the acquaintance of several boys of foreign parentage during their stay in Paris, and had been greatly impressed with their polished manners and glib tongues. Victor Dufait, whom her brother despised, was a lad well calculated to awaken the admiration of any girl unused to superficial elegance of manners. Always handsomely dressed and neat in his appearance, he was to all outward appearances as gentlemanly and modest a lad, as one could hope to meet, but the boys who played with him knew that his politeness was, as they expressed it, “all put on,” and that among lads of his own age, or younger, he could be selfish, ill-natured, and vindictive. Many a time had Harry, while playing with him and other boys of his sort, thought regretfully of the manly, good-natured, and companionable Bruce Decker, who, although of much more humble origin than the little foreigner, possessed a much truer breeding—that which comes from a good heart and kindly intentions.