large blue envelope with a
red seal.

III.

That same day, and soon after three o'clock in the afternoon, Parson
Jack knocked at the door of St. Cadox Rectory.

The Rector, a widower, usually ate his dinner in the middle of the day,
and immediately afterwards retired to his study (with a glass of hot
brandy-and-water), presumably to meditate. At Parson Jack's entrance he
started up from his arm-chair with a flushed face and a somewhat
incoherent greeting, in the middle of which he suddenly observed that
his friend's face, too, was agitated.

"But what brings you? Nothing wrong, I hope?"

"No--o," answered Parson Jack dubiously. Then, "Oh no; on the contrary,
I came to ask if you have any books bearing on this part of the world--
county histories, ecclesiastical histories, and the like--especially
ecclesiastical histories. I want to read up about Langona."

The Rector's eyes twinkled. "This is rather sudden, eh?"

"After five-and-twenty years? I suppose it is." Parson Jack blushed
like a schoolboy; but he laughed, nevertheless, for he held news, and it
bubbled within him.

"Preparing a lecture?"

"No; the fact is"--he straightened his face--"I've just learnt of my
brother Lionel's death in India. I've never seen him since we were
boys," he added apologetically.

"H'm, h'm." The Rector paid his respect to Death in a serious little
cough. "Still, I don't quite understand--"

"He has left me five thousand pounds."

"Ah? A very tidy sum--my dear Flood, I congratulate you; with all my
heart I do. You have the prospect now of many happy days." He shook
his friend's hand warmly. "But--excuse me--what has this to do with
reading ecclesiastical history, of Langona or any other place?"

"Well," Parson Jack answered shyly, sitting down and filling his pipe,
"I thought of restoring the church."

"My dear fellow, don't be a fool--if I may speak profanely.
Five thousand pounds is a tidy sum, no doubt, in Langona especially.
But you'll be leaving Langona. You can buy yourself a decent little
living, or retire and set up comfortably as a bachelor on two hundred
and fifty pounds a year, with a cob, and a gig as you grow older."

Parson Jack shook his head. "I've been paying debts all my life, with
the help of Langona," said he, puffing slowly. "And now I see that I
owe the place repayment. But it isn't _that_ exactly," he went on with
a quickening voice and another of his shy blushes, "and I don't