“That can hardly be, for I know nothing concerning it, Schoolmaster, and seek to know nothing.”

“You reproach me with my origin,” said Bradley Headstone; “you cast insinuations at my bringing-up. But I tell you, sir, I have worked my way onward, out of both and in spite of both, and have a right to be considered a better man than you, with better reasons for being proud.”

“How I can reproach you with what is not within my knowledge, or how I can cast stones that were never in my hand, is a problem for the ingenuity of a schoolmaster to prove,” returned Eugene. “Is that all?”

“No, sir. If you suppose that boy⁠—”

“Who really will be tired of waiting,” said Eugene, politely.