e newcomer as he puffed at it
luxuriously. 'It's more than you can say, squire, I'll be bound.'

'Twenty-first, that's more like it,' said the squire with a laugh. 'How
is Mrs Johnson?' This in allusion to the curate's call at the smithy.

'Dying. Won't last the night out, I think. She is quite unconscious.
Still I am glad I went. Johnson and his daughters seemed to like to have
me there, though of course there was nothing for me to do.'

'Quite so, quite so,' said the squire approvingly, for the village was
so small that he took a paternal interest in all its inhabitants. 'Any
more news?'

'Mrs Golightly has had twins, and young Shaw has enlisted. That's about
all, I think. Oh, by the by, I paid a call here to-day.' And he
indicate. 'The Retreat.' 'It seemed about time you know, and one mustn't
neglect the new-comers.'

'Of course not,' the squire assented with conviction. 'Was she . . . did
she in any way indicate that she was pleased to see you?'

'She was very gracious, but she seemed to take my call quite as a matter
of course. A nice woman I should think, though a little reserved.
However she is going to rent one seat in church if not more, and she
said I might put her name down for one or two little things I am
interested in at present.'

'In fact you made hay while the sun shone. Well, after all, why not? She
didn't tell you anything about herself I suppose, or her connections?'

'No, she never mentioned them. I understood or she implied she had been
abroad a good deal and that her husband had died some years ago. Still I
really don't think we need worry about her; the whole thing, if I may
say so, was so obviously all right, the house I mean and all its
appointments. She is a quiet woman, a little shy and retiring perhaps,
belongs to the old-fashioned school.'

'Well she is none the worse for that,' said the squire with a grunt. 'We
don't meet many of that kind nowadays. Even the farmers' daughters are
quite ready to set you right whenever they get a chance. This modern
education is a curse, I have said so from the very beginning. Still they
haven't robbed us of our Church schools yet, if that is any
consolation. Coming back to dine with me to-night, Seaton?'

The young man shook his head. 'Very sorry, squire, it's quite impossible
to-night. It is Friday night, choir practice you know, and there is a
lantern lecture in the mission hall. I ought to be there already,
helping Griffin with the slides.'