Theo, who had looked, indeed, as if he might have knocked his sister down, here burst into an angry peal of laughter, which rang through the house; and his mother, seizing the opportunity, took him by the arm and drew him away. "Don't take any notice," she said. "You must not forget she is your sister, whatever she says. And, my dear boy, though Minnie exaggerates, she has reason on her side, from her point of view. No, I don't think as she does, altogether; but, Theo, can't you understand that it is a disappointment to us? We always made so sure you were going to do some great thing." "And to be of a little real use once in a way, is such a small thing!" "Oh, Theo, you must be reasonable, and think a little. It does not want a scholar like you to teach little Geoff." "A scholar--like me. How do you know I am a scholar at all?" Mrs. Warrender knew that no answer to this was necessary, and did not attempt it. She went on: "And you are not in a position to want such employment. Don't you see that everybody will begin to inquire what your inducement was? A young man who has nothing, it is all quite natural; but you--Theo, have you ever asked yourself how you are to be repaid?" "You are as bad as Minnie, mother," he said, with scorn; "you think I want to be repaid." She clasped her hands upon his arm, looking up at him with a sort of pitying pride. "_She_ must think of it, Theo--everybody must think of it; ah yes, and even yourself, at the last. Every mortal, everybody that is human,--oh, Theo, the most generous!--looks for something, something in return." The young man tried to speak, but his voice died away after he had said "Mother!" To this he had no reply.