Page:Authors daughter v1.djvu/185

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GEORGE COPELAND'S PROBATION.
181

be when I visited the family; he had a beautiful estate in ———shire."

"He made money cotton-spinning," said Louis, turning up his nose, with a squatter's pride, at such base mechanical ways of getting money. Strange that cotton-growing and wool-growing should be the aristocratic employments in America and Australia, while the conversion of these raw materials into useful articles, though requiring more intelligence and more capital, is never considered at all aristocratic in England or elsewhere.

"Copeland must be of a better class than his employers if his father was one of Mr. Derrick's tenants," said Mr. Hammond.

"No doubt he is. I liked his appearance and manner very much when we accompanied him to Mr. Lindsay's on that unfortunate evening, and that makes it more provoking that we should lose him after what he said to Louis. But these low people can always outbid us; they can afford to pay more wages than we can, for they do so much of their own work."

"I wish you would let me do some of your work instead of keeping me grinding away at these lessons," said Louis. "I'm sure I have no objection to go up the Darling, or if you would