He was the darling of his mother, who seemed to dote on all her
children, though she was, perhaps, a little afraid of Deborah's
superior acquirements. Deborah was the favourite of her father,
and when Peter disappointed him, she became his pride. The sole
honour Peter brought away from Shrewsbury was the reputation of
being the best good fellow that ever was, and of being the captain
of the school in the art of practical joking. His father was
disappointed, but set about remedying the matter in a manly way.
He could not afford to send Peter to read with any tutor, but he
could read with him himself; and Miss Matty told me much of the
awful preparations in the way of dictionaries and lexicons that
were made in her father's study the morning Peter began.
"My poor mother!" said she. "I remember how she used to stand in
the hall, just near enough the study-door, to catch the tone of my
father's voice. I could tell in a moment if all was going right,
by her face. And it did go right for a long time."
"What went wrong at last?" said I. "That tiresome Latin, I dare
say."
"No! it was not the Latin. Peter was in high favour with my
father, for he worked up well for him. But he seemed to think that
the Cranford people might be joked about, and made fun of, and they
did not like it; nobody does.
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