Generosity is seldom an attribute
of youth, while egotism, on the other hand, is seldom absent. So far
from realizing that the captain would have scorned such lowly game,
Master Hardy believed that he lived for little else, and his
Jack-in-the-box ubiquity was a constant marvel and discomfort to that
irritable mariner. Did he approach a seat on the beach, it was Master
Hardy who rose (at the last moment) to make room for him. Did he stroll
down to the harbour, it was in the wake of a small boy looking coyly at
him over his shoulder. Every small alley as he passed seemed to contain
a Jem Hardy, who whizzed out like a human firework in front of him, and
then followed dancing on his toes a pace or two in his rear.
This was on week-days; on the Sabbath Master Hardy's daring ingenuity led
him to still further flights. All the seats at the parish church were
free, but Captain Nugent, whose admirable practice it was to take his
entire family to church, never thoroughly realized how free they were
until Master Hardy squeezed his way in and, taking a seat next to him,
prayed with unwonted fervour into the interior of a new hat, and then
sitting back watched with polite composure the efforts of Miss Nugent's
family to re-strain her growing excitement.
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