astow will make her an allowance."

Never were a pair more delighted than Parson Greg and his wife when two
days later they took possession of their new home. Half a dozen women
had been at work the day before, and everything was in perfect order. To
Mrs. Greg's relief she found that the old servant had already gone, the
Squire having himself informed her that Mrs. Greg would bring her own
maid with her. Mr. Bastow said that he would allow her half a crown a
week as long as she lived, and the Squire added as much more, and as the
woman had saved a good deal during her twenty years' service with the
Rector, she was perfectly satisfied.

"It is a good thing that she should be content," the Squire said to Mr.
Bastow. "She has a lot of connections in the village, and if she had
gone away with a sense of grievance she might have created a good deal
of ill feeling against your successor, and I am very anxious that he
should begin well. I like the young fellow, and I like his wife."

"We are fortunate, indeed, Ernest," Mrs. Greg said the following
morning, as with the children, two and three years old, they went out
into the garden; where the trees were laden with apples, pears, and
plums. "What a change from our little rooms in Reigate. I should think
that anyone ought to be happy indeed here."

"They ought to be, Emma, but you see Mr. Bastow had trouble enough; and
it should be a lesson to us, dear, to look very closely after the boys
now they are young, and see that they don't make bad acquaintances."

"From what we hear of the village, there is little fear of that; the
mischief must have begun before Mr. Thorndyke came down, when by all
accounts things had altogether gone to the bad here, and of course young
Bastow must have had an exceptionally evil disposition, Ernest."

"Yes, no doubt; but his father could not have looked after him properly.
I believe, from what I hear, that Bastow was so dispirited at his
powerlessness to put a stop to the state of things here, that, except to
perform service, he seldom left the house, and the boy no doubt grew up
altogether wild. You know that I was in court on the second day of the
examination, and the young fellow's insolence and bearing astonished
and shocked me. Happily, we have the Squire here now to back us up, the
village has been completely cleared of all bad characters, and is by all
accounts quite a model place, and we must do our best to keep it so."

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