. She knew she could not interfere
effectually then, and wisely forbore to make too many enquiries. Her time, if
ever it was to come, would be when the children were no longer living under the
same roof as their parents. It ended in her making up her mind to have nothing
to do with either Joey or Charlotte, but to see so much of Ernest as should
enable her to form an opinion about his disposition and abilities.
    He had now been a year and a half at Roughborough and was nearly fourteen
years old, so that his character had begun to shape. His aunt had not seen him
for some little time and thinking that if she was to exploit him she could do so
now perhaps better than at any other time, she resolved on going down to
Roughborough on some pretext which should be good enough for Theobald, and
taking stock of her nephew under circumstances in which she could get him for
some few hours to herself. Accordingly in August 1849 when Ernest was just
entering on his fourth half year a cab drove up to Dr. Skinner's with Miss
Pontifex who asked and obtained leave for Ernest to come and dine with her at
the Swan Hotel.
    She had written to Ernest to say she was coming and he was of course upon
the lookout for her. He had not seen her for so long that he was rather shy at
first, but her good nature soon set him at his ease; she was so strongly biassed
in favour of anything young that her heart warmed towards him at once - though
his appearance was less prepossessing than she had hoped. She took him to a cake
shop and gave him whatever he liked as soon as she had got him off the school
premises; and Ernest felt at once that she contrasted favourably even with his
aunts the Misses Allaby, who were so very sweet and good. The Misses Allaby were
very poor; sixpence was to them what five shillings was to Alethæa. What chance
had they against one who, if she had a mind, could put by out of her income
twice as much as they, poor women, could spend?
    The boy had plenty of prattle in him when he was not snubbed, and Alethæa
encouraged him to chatter whatever came uppermost. He was always ready to trust
anyone who was kind to him; it took many years to make him reasonably wary in
this respect - if indeed, as I sometimes doubt, he ever will be as wary as he
ought to be - and in a short time he had quite dissociated his aunt from his
papa and mamma and the rest with whom his
