the nursery? It is very hard you should come and disturb me for such a
nonsensical question."

Rupert was always good to Mother, and he shut the drawing-room door
very gently. Then he came rushing up to the nursery to say that Mother
said "Of course not." But Henrietta said, "What did you ask her?" And
when Rupert told her she said, "Of course Mother thought you meant one
of those men who have carts to carry things, with a hood on the top
and a dog underneath."

Johnson's father and grandfather were not carriers of that kind. They
owned a lot of canal-boats, and one or two big barges, which took all
kinds of things all the way to London.

Mr. Johnson used to say, "In my father's time men of business lived
near their work both in London and the country. That's why my house is
close to the wharf. I am not ashamed of my trade, and the place is
very comfortable, so I shall stick to it. Tom may move into the town
and give the old house to the foreman when I am gone, if he likes to
play the fine gentleman."

Tom would be very foolish if he did. It is the dearest old house one
could wish for. It was built of red brick, but the ivy has covered it
so thickly that it is clipped round the old-fashioned windows like a
hedge. The gardens are simply perfect. In summer you can pick as many
flowers and eat as much fruit as you like, and if that is not the use
and beauty of a garden, I do not know what is.

Johnson's father was very proud of him, and let him have anything he
liked, and in the midsummer holidays Johnson used to bring his