He was short of his age: with rather bow-legs, and little, sharp, ugly eyes.

Having been at home a week or two partaking of the family beans, he had used his leisure in ascertaining a fact which was of considerable importance to him, namely, that his mother had a small sum in guineas painfully saved from her maiden perquisites, and kept in the corner of a drawer where her baby-linen had reposed for the last twenty years--ever since her son David had taken to his feet, with a slight promise of bow-legs which had not been altogether unfulfilled.