go up pretty soon? I
expect we shall find him in the garden."

Jack winced a little. Jenny smiled at him openly.

"Best to get it over, Mr. Jack. I know it's like going to the dentist.
But it can't be as bad as you think. It never is. Besides, you'll have
somebody to hold your hand, so to speak."

"I hope I shan't scream out loud," observed Jack. "Yes, we'd better
go--if you don't mind."

He stood up and waited. Jenny rose at once.

"I'll go and get a hat. Wait for me here, will you? I needn't tell
father till this evening."

(II)

The park looked delicious as they walked slowly up the grass under the
shade of the trees by the side of the drive. The great beeches and elms
rose in towering masses, in clump after clump, into the distance, and
beneath the nearest stood a great stag with half a dozen hinds about
him, eyeing the walkers. The air was very still; only from over the hill
came the sound of a single church bell, where some infatuated clergyman
hoped to gather the lambs of his flock together for instruction in the
Christian religion.

"That's a beauty," said Jack, waving a languid hand towards the stag.
"Did you ever hear of the row Frank and I got into when we were boys?"

Jenny smiled. She had been quite silent since leaving the Rectory.

"I heard of a good many," she said. "Which was this?"

Jack recounted a story of Red Indians and ambuscades and a bow and
arrows, ending in the flight of a frantic stag over the palings and
among the garden beds; it was on a Sunday afternoon, too.

"Frank was caned by the butler, I remember; by Lord Talgarth's express
orders. Certainly he richly deserved it. I was a guest, and got off
clear."

"How old were you?"

"We were both about eleven, I think."

"Frank doesn't strike me as more than about twelve now," observed Jenny.

"There's something in that," admitted Jack.... "Oh! Lord! how hot it
is!" He fanned himself with his hat.

* * * * *

There was no sign of life as they passed into the court and up to the
pillared portico; and at last, when the butler appeared, the irregular
state of his coat-collar showed plainly that he but that moment had put
his coat on.

(This would be about the time that Frank left the village after his
interview with the priest.)

Yes; it seemed that Lord Talgarth was probably in the garden; and, if
so, almost certainly in the little square among the yews along the upper
terrace. His lordsh