"
"I don't see how Mr. Preston can be so unfair," said his wife. "It is
his duty to stand by his family."
"I felt ashamed to have him scold me before the impudent boy. Of
course, he enjoyed it, and I suppose he will think he can be impudent
to me again."
"No doubt. I will speak to your father about it. He really shouldn't
be so inconsiderate. But what is that stain on your coat, Godfrey? I
should think you had been down on your back on the ground."
"Oh," said Godfrey, rather embarrassed, "I happened to slip as I was
wrestling with the fellow, and fell on my back. However, I was up
again directly and gave it to him, I can tell you. If father hadn't
stopped me I'd have laid him out," he continued, in a swaggering tone.
It will be seen that Godfrey did not always confine himself to the
truth. Indeed, he found it rather hard at all times to admit either
that he had been in the wrong or had been worsted. Even if his mother
sometimes suspected that his accounts were a trifle distorted, she
forbore to question their accuracy. Mother and son had a sort of tacit
compact by which they stood by each other, and made common cause
against Colonel Preston.
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