m, where the volunteer rifle band is to perform and make a
sort of concert of it."

"Indeed!" said Will.

"Yes; and Mrs Tipps says that Captain Lee is going to give them what
she calls a cold collation, and brother Bob calls a blow-out."

"You don't say so!" exclaimed Will.

"Yes, I do; won't it be delightful?" said Gertie.

"Splendid," replied Will, "I'll be sure to be up in good time. But, I
say, Gertie, is young Dorkin to be there?"

Gertie blushed, but was spared the necessity of a reply in consequence
of a deafening whistle which called Will Garvie to his points. Next
moment, a passenger-train intervened, and cut her off from further
communication.

According to promise, Will was at the schoolroom in good time that
evening, with some thirty or forty of his comrades. Loo was there too,
blooming and matronly, with a troop of boys and girls, who seemed to
constitute themselves a body-guard round John Marrot and his wife, who
were both ignorant at that time of the honour that was about to be done
them. John was as grave, sturdy, and amiable as ever, the only
alteration in his appearance being the increased number of silver locks
that mingled with his black hair. Time had done little to Mrs Marrot,
beyond increasing her bulk and the rosiness of her countenance.

It would be tedious to comment on all our old friends who assembled in
the schoolroom on that memorable occasion. We can only mention the
names of Captain Lee (_alias_ Samuel Tough), and Mr Abel, and Mrs
Tipps, and Dr Noble, and Mr Sharp, and David Blunt, and Joe Turner,
and Mrs Durby, with all of whom time seemed to have dealt as leniently
as with John Marrot and his wife. Sam Natly was also there, with his
invalid wife restored to robust health, and supported on either side by
a blooming boy and girl. And Edwin Gurwood was there with his wife and
son and three daughters; and so was Joseph Tipps, looking as if the
world prospered with him, as, indeed, was the case. And, of course,
Netta Tipps was there, and the young curate, who, by the way, was much
stouter and not nearly so stiff as when we first met him. He was
particularly attentive to Netta, and called her "my dear," in a cool
free-and-easy way, that would not have been tolerated for a moment, but
for the fact that they had been married for the last three months. Bob
Marrot was there also--as strapping a young blade as one could wish to
see, with a modest yet fearless look in his eye, t