o on regularly. From the end of this two years I shall draw half
the income of this estate, and you will take the other half between
you, to invest or use as you may think fit. At the end of six years I
calculate that the estate will be stocked with as many cattle and sheep
as it can support. Fifteen thousand cattle, say, and thirty thousand
sheep. You will then sell all your annual increase, and the profits will
be greater every year. At the end of ten years from this time, if, as I
think probable, you will have had enough of this life, we will sell the
estate. By that time it will be the centre of a populous district, the
land will be greatly increased in value, and will be equal to any in the
country,--so much so, indeed, that it will probably be out of the
question to find a purchaser for the whole. We could therefore break it
up to suit purchasers, dividing it into lots of one, two, three, or four
square miles, or a square league, and dividing the stock in proportion.
The house would, of course, go with the arable land and a mile or two of
pasture beyond it. My share of the yearly income I shall devote to
buying my estate. Say the price is L10,000. This I shall, with my income
from here and my income from the estate itself, probably be able to make
in ten years. The estate, with the L5000 I propose to risk in drainage,
etc., ought then to be worth L20,000. The value of this estate of fifty
thousand acres, with the flocks and herds, ought to be at least double
that amount; so that at the end of ten years I shall be a rich man. You,
with care, can certainly save L5000 each in the ten years, and will
receive another L10,000 each as your share of the estate. You will
consequently, boys, at the age of thirty-one and thirty-two, be able to
settle down in England in very comfortable circumstances. Your sisters
will of course be provided for out of my share. Do you approve of my
plans?'

The boys warmly expressed their satisfaction at the plan, and their
gratitude to their father for his intentions.

And so things were carried out.

Six months after Mr. Hardy's arrival in England, the boys heard of
Maud's marriage to Mr. Cooper, now, by the death of his father, a
wealthy country gentleman. Charley, during his first visit to England,
also married,--an example which Hubert followed the next year.

The two now took it by turn to manage the estate,--the one in England
always passing a considerable portion of his time at Mr.