certain
business responsibilities which would keep him much away from home; they were
given to understand that the change in their own position and prospects was
entirely of their brother's making. If Alice Maud was allowed to give up her
work, to wear more expensive gowns, even to receive lessons on the pianoforte,
she had to thank Dick for it. And when 'Arry was told that his clerkship at the
drain-pipe manufactory was about to terminate, that he might enter upon a career
likely to be more fruitful of distinction, again it was Dick's brotherly
kindness. Mrs. Mutimer did her best to keep up this deception.
    But Richard was well aware that the deception could not be lasting, and had
the Princess alone been concerned he would probably never have commenced it. It
was about his brother that he was really anxious. 'Arry might hear the truth any
day, and Richard gravely feared the result of such a discovery. Had he been
destined to future statesmanship, he could not have gone through a more
profitable course of experience and reasoning than that into which he was led by
brotherly solicitude. For 'Arry represented a very large section of Demos, alike
in his natural characteristics and in the circumstances of his position; 'Arry,
being 'Arry, was on the threshold of emancipation, and without the smallest
likelihood that the event would change his nature. Hence the nut to crack: Given
'Arry, by what rapid process of discipline can he be prepared for a state in
which the 'Arrian characteristics will surely prove ruinous not only to himself
but to all with whom he has dealings?
    Richard saw reason to deeply regret that the youth had been put to clerking
in the first instance, and not rather trained for some handicraft, clerkships
being about the least hopeful of positions for a working-class lad of small
parts and pronounced blackguard tendencies. He came to the conclusion that even
now it was not too late to remedy this error. 'Arry must be taught what work
meant, and, before he came into possession of his means, he must, if possible,
be led to devote his poor washy brains to some pursuit quite compatible with the
standing of a capitalist, to acquire knowledge of a kind which he could
afterwards use for the benefit of his own pocket. Deficient bodily vigour had
had something to do with his elevation to the office of the drain-pipe factory,
but that he appeared to have outgrown. Much pondering enabled Richard to hit at
length on what he considered a hopeful scheme; he would apprentice 'Arry to
engineering, and send