Ellis took himself off , his ears tingling . As he walked homeward his thoughts were very bitter . All Uncle Timothy had said about his father was true , and Ellis realized what a count it was against him in his efforts to obtain employment . Nobody wanted to be bothered with `` Old Sam Duncan 's son , '' though nobody had been so brutally outspoken as his Uncle Timothy . Sam Duncan and Timothy Robinson had been half-brothers . Sam , the older , had been the son of Mrs. Robinson 's former marriage . Never were two lads more dissimilar . Sam was a lazy , shiftless fellow , deserving all the hard things that came to be said of him . He would not work and nobody could depend on him , but he was a handsome lad with rather taking ways in his youth , and at first people had liked him better than the close , blunt , industrious Timothy . Their mother had died in their childhood , but Mr. Robinson had been fond of Sam and the boy had a good home . When he was twenty-two and Timothy eighteen , Mr. Robinson had died very suddenly , leaving no will . Everything he possessed went to Timothy . Sam immediately left . He said he would not stay there to be `` bossed '' by Timothy . He rented a little house in the village , married a girl `` far too good for him , '' and started in to support himself and his wife by days ' work . He had lounged , borrowed , and shirked through life . Once Timothy Robinson , perhaps moved by pity for Sam 's wife and baby , had hired him for a year at better wages than most hired men received in Dalrymple . Sam idled through a month of it , then got offended and left in the middle of haying . Timothy Robinson washed his hands of him after that . When Ellis was fourteen Sam Duncan died , after a lingering illness of a year .
During this time the family were kept by the charity XXXXX pitying neighbours , for Ellis could not be spared from attendance on his father to make any attempt at earning money .
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