CHAPTER XIV. 



CHRISTMAS EVE IN A PUNT. 



OME people are never satisfied. It would be too 



tedious, too laborious a task to enter into the why 



and wherefore of this latent discontent in human 



nature, nor does the subject befit a festive season of the 



year. 



It would not be altogether correct to say that Harvey 

 Kype, of Kype Manor, Esquire, was never satisfied ; but it 

 is no libel to whisper that his fits of satisfaction were of the 

 description of angels' visits — few and far between. He was 

 especially displeased with his son and heir, Harvey junior. 

 I am informed that in these days of juvenile precocity, 

 when boys tell each other that " the governor is a jolly old 

 chap," and girls vote parental lectures " awfully slow," it is 

 no uncommon thing to find the head of the household in 

 opposition to the young hopeful who will some day sit on 

 the domestic treasury bench. But Harvey Kype, of Kype 

 Manor, had really very little cause for dissatisfaction. 



Harvey junior was quite a model boy. He never told a 

 lie, nor tried his hatchet on the favourite pear tree ; he was 



