1



vni

Captain Marryat's Mantle

In spite of pleasant books and of the long
hoUdays of midsummer which let down the bars
and set little Edmund loose in the pasture, life
was not aU Shrewsbury drops for him. Biding
in his uncle's house still seemed a part of the
journey that began with the stagecoach. He
reached out in his dreams for his mother, but he
did not cry. Why should he cry, when he need
only wait? You see, he kept supposing that he
was going to return.
And once — twice — the journey did promise
to end. It was after this wise. By the time that
Edmimd had been in Norwich Town a whole
year, he was of course a grown boy; and little
Charlie, at home with Mother who was staying
now in Newark, was no longer a baby. Charlie
was four years old !



CAPTAIN MARRYAT'S MANTLE 97

"Why, when Edmtind was your age," cried
pretty Elizabeth, lifting her Charlie's innocent
face with her white hands, "he went to visit
his Uncle James in Connecticut; he went quite
by himself; he was considered a young man!
What does my darling Charlie think of that?
You mother's baby !"

But Charlie gazed simply at her. He did not
understand this talk. He did not remember that
he had a brother. He was a very lackwit when
it came to worldly matters.
"Don't look at me so searchingly ! " cried
Elizabeth, rumpling his hair into a halo. "Don't
you wish to go to Norwich Town? Don't you
wish to have a nice journey?"

Charlie shook his head. He was content to
stay right where he was.
