you should be
altogether your own master. I am more than pleased, my boy, with the way
you have gone through college; it is, I am sure, just as your dear father
would have wished it, and as it would have pleased him best.' He paused,
and Harold said in a low voice:

'I tried hard, sir, to do what I thought he would like; and what you
would.' The Squire went on more cheerfully:

'I know that, my boy! I know that well. And I can tell you that it is
not the least of the pleasures we have all had in your success, how you
have justified yourself. You have won many honours in the schools, and
you have kept the reputation as an athlete which your father was so proud
of. Well, I suppose in the natural order of things you would go into a
profession; and of course if you so desire you can do that. But if you
can see your way to it I would rather that you stayed here. My house is
your home as long as I live; but I don't wish you to feel in any way
dependent. I want you to stay here if you will; but to do it just
because you wish to. To this end I have made over to you the estate at
Camp which was my father's gift to me when I came of age. It is not a
very large one; but it will give you a nice position of your own, and a
comfortable income. And with it goes my blessing, my dear boy. Take it
as a gift from your father and myself!'

Harold was much moved, not only by the act itself but by the gracious way
of doing it. There were tears in his eyes as he wrung the Squire's hand;
his voice thrilled with feeling as he said:

'Your many goodnesses to my father's son, sir, will, I hope, be justified
by his love and loyalty. If I don't say much it is because I do not feel
quite master of myself. I shall try to show in time, as I cannot say it
all at once, all that I feel.'

Harold continued to live at Normanstand. The house at Camp was in
reality a charming cottage. A couple of servants were installed, and now
and again he stayed there for a few days as he wished to get accustomed
to the place. In a couple of months every one accepted the order of
things; and life at Normanstand went on much as it had done before Harold
had gone to college. There was a man in the house now instead of a boy:
that was all. Stephen too was beginning to be a young woman, but the
relative positions were the same as they had been. Her growth did not
seem to make an ostensible difference to any one. The one who might have
noticed it m