“I hoped so. I am so thankful. So well done of you, Charley dear! It is better for me not to come (except when he wants me) between him and his prospects. You think so, Mr. Headstone?”

Conscious that his pupil-teacher was looking for his answer, that he himself had suggested the boy’s keeping aloof from this sister, now seen for the first time face to face, Bradley Headstone stammered:

“Your brother is very much occupied, you know. He has to work hard. One cannot but say that the less his attention is diverted from his work, the better for his future. When he shall have established himself, why then⁠—it will be another thing then.”

Lizzie shook her head again, and returned, with a quiet smile: “I always advised him as you advise him. Did I not, Charley?”

“Well, never mind that now,” said the boy. “How are you getting on?”