d met his kind eye, and was able to kneel down with a more quiet mind
to receive the gift which had come down on the Day of Pentecost.

Alfred wanted to know whether she had seen Paul, but Ellen had been
kneeling down and not thinking of other people, when the Friarswood boys
went up. Only she had passed him on the way home, and seen that though
he was lagging the last of the boys, he did not look dull and worn, as he
had been doing lately.

Ellen had been asked to go to the Grange after church to-morrow evening,
and drink tea there, in celebration of the Confirmation which the two
young foster-sisters had shared.

Harold went to fetch her home at night, and they both came into the house
fresh and glowing with the brisk frosty air, and also with what they had
to tell.

'O mother, what do you think? Paul Blackthorn is to go to the Grange to-
morrow. My Lady wants to see him, and perhaps she will make Mr. Pound
find some work for him about the farm.'

Harold jumped up and snapped his fingers towards the farm. 'There's for
old Skinflint!' said he; 'not a chap in the place but will halloo for
joy!'

'Well, I am glad!' said Mrs. King; 'I didn't think that poor lad would
have held out much longer, winter weather and all. But how did my Lady
come to hear of it?'

'Oh, it seems she noticed him going to church in all his rags, and Mr.
Cope told her who he was; so Miss Jane came and asked me all about him,
and I told her what a fine scholar he is, and how shamefully the farmer
and Boldre treat him, and how good he was to Alfred about the ointment,
and how steady he is. And I told her about the boys dressing him up
yesterday, and how he wouldn't take a gift. She listened just as if it
was a story, and she ran away to her grandmamma, and presently came back
to say that the boy was to come up to-morrow after his work, for Lady
Jane to speak to him.'

'Well, at least, he has been washed once,' said Mrs. King; 'but he's so
queer; I hope he will have no fancies, and will behave himself.'

'I'll tackle him,' declared Harold decidedly. 'I've a great mind to go
out this moment and tell him.'

Mrs. King prevented this; she persuaded Harold that Mrs. Shepherd would
fly out at them if she heard any noise in the yard, and that it would be
better for every one to let Paul alone till the morning.

Morning came, and as soon as Harold was dressed, he rushed to the farm-
yard, but he could not find Paul anywhere, and concluded