course'--and composed himself to listen again.

'In a word,' said Martin, 'I have been bred and reared all my life by
this grandfather of whom I have just spoken. Now, he has a great many
good points--there is no doubt about that; I'll not disguise the fact
from you--but he has two very great faults, which are the staple of his
bad side. In the first place, he has the most confirmed obstinacy of
character you ever met with in any human creature. In the second, he is
most abominably selfish.'

'Is he indeed?' cried Tom.

'In those two respects,' returned the other, 'there never was such a
man. I have often heard from those who know, that they have been, time
out of mind, the failings of our family; and I believe there's some
truth in it. But I can't say of my own knowledge. All I have to do, you
know, is to be very thankful that they haven't descended to me, and, to
be very careful that I don't contract 'em.'

'To be sure,' said Mr Pinch. 'Very proper.'

'Well, sir,' resumed Martin, stirring the fire once more, and drawing
his chair still closer to it, 'his selfishness makes him exacting,
you see; and his obstinacy makes him resolute in his exactions. The
consequence is that he has always exacted a great deal from me in the
way of respect, and submission, and self-denial when his wishes were in
question, and so forth. I have borne a great deal from him, because I
have been under obligations to him (if one can ever be said to be under
obligations to one's own grandfather), and because I have been really
attached to him; but we have had a great many quarrels for all that, for