CHAPTER I 10 her head in at the door , and said at once -
" She is in the window-seat , to be sure , Jack ."
And I came out immediately , for I trembled at the idea of being dragged forth by the said Jack .
" What do you want ?" I asked , with awkward diffidence .
" Say , ' What do you want , Master Reed ?'" was the answer . " I want you to come here ;" and seating himself in an arm-chair , he intimated by a gesture that I was to approach and stand before him .
John Reed was a schoolboy of fourteen years old ; four years older than I , for I was but ten : large and stout for his age , with a dingy and unwholesome skin ; thick lineaments in a spacious visage , heavy limbs and large extremities . He gorged himself habitually at table , which made him bilious , and gave him a dim and bleared eye and flabby cheeks . He ought now to have been at school ; but his mama had taken him home for a month or two , " on account of his delicate health ." Mr . Miles , the master , affirmed that he would do very well if he had fewer cakes and sweetmeats sent him from home ; but the mother ' s heart turned from an opinion so harsh , and inclined rather to the more refined idea that John ' s sallowness was owing to over-application and , perhaps , to pining after home .
John had not much affection for his mother and sisters , and an antipathy to me . He bullied and punished me ; not two or three times in the week , nor once or twice in the day , but continually : every nerve I had feared him , and every morsel of flesh in my bones shrank when he came near . There were moments when I was bewildered by the terror he inspired , because I had no appeal whatever against either his menaces or his inflictions ; the servants did not like to offend their young master by taking my part against him , and Mrs . Reed was blind and deaf on the subject : she never saw him strike or heard him abuse me , though he did both now and then in her very presence , more frequently , however , behind her back .