r wish, and very soon;
for here is a master for you, if you will serve him." "Not a light
service, Paul," said Mark gravely, "but a true one. I can take you with
me when you may go, for my boy Jack is fallen sick with a stroke of the
sun, and must bide at home awhile." They looked at Paul, to see what he
would say. "Oh, I will go gladly," he said, "if I may." And then he
felt he had not spoken lovingly; so he kissed Mistress Alison, who
smiled, but somewhat sadly, and said, "Yes, Paul--I understand."

So when the meal was over, Paul's small baggage was made ready, and he
kissed Mistress Alison--and then she said to Mark with a sudden look,
"You will take care of him?" "Oh, he shall be safe with me," said Mark,
"and if he be apt and faithful, he shall learn his trade, as few can
learn it." And then Paul said his good-bye, and walked away with Mark;
and his heart was so full of gladness that he stepped out lightly and
blithely, and hardly looked back. But at the turn of the road he
stopped, while Mark seemed to consider him gravely. The three that were
to abide, Mistress Alison, and the maid, and the old gardener, stood at
the door and waved their hands; the old house seemed to look fondly out
of its windows at him, as though it had a heart; and the very trees
seemed to wave him a soft farewell. Paul waved his hand too, and a tear
came into his eyes; but he was eager to be gone; and indeed, in his
heart, he felt almost jealous of even the gentle grasp of his home upon
his heart. And so Mark and Paul set out for the south.

II

Of the life that Paul lived with Mark I must not here tell; but before
he grew to full manhood he had learned his art well. Mark was a strict
master, but not impatient. The only thing that angered him was
carelessness or listlessness; and Paul was an apt and untiring pupil,
and learnt so easily and deftly that Mark was often astonished. "How did
you learn that?" he said one day suddenly to Paul when the boy was
practising on the lute, and played a strange soft cadence, of a kind
that Mark had never heard. The boy was startled by the question, for he
had not thought that Mark was listening to him. He looked up with a
blush and turned his eyes on Mark. "Is it not right?" he said. "I did
not learn it; it comes from somewhere in my mind."

Paul learnt to play several instruments, both wind and string. Sometimes
he loved one sort the best, sometimes the other. The wind instruments of
wood had