the Colonel and Mrs. Selby had left to
be brought up by her grandmother, had a great fancy that Alfred should be
a page; and as she generally had her own way, he went up to the Grange
when he was about thirteen years old, and put on a suit thickly sown with
buttons. But ere the gloss of his new jacket had begun to wear off, he
had broken four wine-glasses, three cups, and a decanter, all from not
knowing where he was going; he had put sugar instead of salt into the
salt-cellars at the housekeeper's dining-table, that he might see what
she would say; and he had been caught dressing up Miss Jane's Skye
terrier in one of the butler's clean cravats; so, though Puck, the
aforesaid terrier, liked him better than any other person, Miss Jane not
excepted, a regular complaint went up of him to my Lady, and he was sent
home. He was abashed, and sorry to have vexed mother and disappointed
Miss Jane; but somehow he could not be unhappy when he had Harold to play
with him again, and he could halloo as loud as they pleased, and stamp
about in the garden, instead of being always in mind to walk softly.

There was the pony too! A new arrangement had just been made, that the
Friarswood letters should be fetched from Elbury every morning, and then
left at the various houses of the large straggling district that depended
on that post-office. All letters from thence must be in the post before
five o'clock, at which time they were to be sent in to Elbury. The post-
master at Elbury asked if Mrs. King's sons could undertake this; and
accordingly she made a great effort, and bought a small shaggy forest
pony, whom the boys called 'Peggy,' and loved not much less than their
sisters.

It was all very well in the summer to take those two rides in the cool of
the morning and evening; but when winter came on, and Alfred had to start
for Elbury in the tardy dawn of a frosty morning, or still worse, in the
gloom of a wet one, he did not like it at all. He used to ride in
looking blue and purple with the chill; and though he went as close to
the fire as possible, and steamed like the tea-kettle while he ate his
breakfast and his mother sorted the letters, he had not time to warm
himself thoroughly before he had to ride off to leave them--two miles
further altogether; for besides the bag for the Grange, and all the
letters for the Rectory, and for the farmers, there was a young
gentlemen's school at a great old lonely house, called Ragglesford,