hat score. Well, Cedric," with an
amused look at his bored expression, "do you feel equal to the exertion
of bicycling over to Rotherwood, or shall Johnson go?"

"I suppose I can do the job," returned Cedric in a grumbling tone. "You
may as well give me the vicarage note too, Die." But Dinah, distressed
by her darling's ill-humour, followed him out into the hall to explain
matters more fully.

"You must not be cross about it, dear," she said, with tender anxiety
in her tone. "You see we are bound to entertain a visitor like Mr.
Herrick; he is not just an insignificant person." Cedric's brow
cleared. "He is a clever man, and it will be a compliment to ask a
distinguished scholar like Mr. Charrington to meet him. If the Logans
had been here we should have invited them."

Cedric felt a little ashamed of himself. "I daresay you are right," he
said grudgingly, "but it will be so precious slow. Well, I'm off. Look
after Herrick while I am gone," with a fine assumption of manly
dignity. But he need not have troubled himself; Malcolm was not
disposed to miss him in the least.

As for Elizabeth, her flow of benevolence was not dry yet. "I heard you
tell Dinah last night that you wanted to look over the Crow's Nest,"
she observed to Malcolm as they rose from the breakfast table, "if you
have no letters to write we might stroll down there now."

"Oh, my letters will keep," he returned, with such evident pleasure at
the proposition that Elizabeth went off in search of her hat; not the
hat with the battered brim, mark you, but a charming hat with
cream-coloured lace and delicious yellow poppies, that seemed to match
the dewy freshness of the morning, and which would not disgrace the
gentleman from London; and although she wore no gloves--Elizabeth
always drew the line at gloves--her Indian silk sunshade was worthy of
Bond Street. As the Crow's Nest was within sight of the gates of the
Wood House, they very soon accomplished the distance.

It was a homely little place enough, and the Kestons had described it
pretty accurately. It was a mere cottage, and not a picturesque one
either, for the architecture left much to be desired; but the row of
trees that divided it from the road, amongst which shone the red
berries of the rowans, and the trim, shady lawn, gave it a secluded and
pleasant aspect.

The sitting-room was small but cosy, and there was a fair-sized
dining-room; but Malcolm at once took a fancy to a small upper room