that
now and then do come to us in autumn. The air was clear, the sky bright,
the sun hot as in summer, the grass green almost as in spring. It was
evidently a day of rejoicing. Deerham, since the afternoon, seemed to be
taking holiday, and as the sun began to get lower in the heavens, groups
in their best attire were wending their way towards Verner's Pride.

_There_ was the centre of attraction. A _fete_--or whatever you might
please to call it, where a great deal of feasting is going on--was about
to be held on no mean scale. Innumerable tables, some large, some small,
were set out in different parts of the grounds, their white cloths
intimating that they were to be laden with good cheer. Tynn and his
satellites bustled about, and believed they had never had such a day of
work before.

A day of pleasure also, unexampled in their lives; for their master,
Lionel Verner, was about to bring home his bride.

Everybody was flocking to the spot; old and young, gentle and simple.
The Elmsleys and the half-starved Hooks; the Hautleys and those
ill-doing Dawsons; the Misses West and their pupils; Lady Verner and the
Frosts; Mr. Bitterworth in a hand-chair, his gouty foot swathed up in
linen; Mrs. Duff, who had shut up her shop to come; Dan, in some new
clothes; Mr. Peckaby and lady; Chuff the blacksmith, with rather a
rolling gait; and Master Cheese and Jan. In short, all Deerham and its
neighbourhood had turned out.

This was to be Master Cheese's last appearance on any scene--so far as
Deerham was concerned. The following day he would quit Jan for good; and
that gentleman's new assistant, a qualified practitioner, had arrived,
and was present. Somewhat different arrangements from what had been
originally contemplated were about to be entered on, as regarded Jan.
The Misses West had found their school prosper so well during the
half-year it had been established that they were desirious of taking
the house entirely on their own hands. They commanded the good will and
respect of Deerham, if their father did not. Possibly it was because he
did not, and that their position was sympathised with and commiserated,
that their scheme of doing something to place themselves independent of
him, obtained so large a share of patronage. They wished to take the
whole house on their own hands. Easy Jan acquiesced; Lionel thought it
the best thing in all ways; and Jan began to look out for another home.
But Jan seemed to waver in the fixin