t last, as she asked,
"And does it grieve you so much to leave home?" the answer was--

"No, no! not home!"

"What is it, then? What are you sorry to leave?"

"Oh, _you_ don't know! you and Anne--the only ones that ever were
good to me--and drove away--_it_."

"Nay, my dear boy. Your uncle means to be good to you."

"No, no. No one ever will be like you and Anne. Oh, let me stay
with you, or they will have me at last!"

He was too much shaken, in his still half-recovered state, by the
events of these last days, to be reasoned with. Mrs. Woodford was
afraid he would work himself into delirium, and could only soothe
him into a calmer state. She found from Anne that the children had
some vague hopes of his being allowed to remain at Portchester, and
that this was the ground of his disappointment, since he seemed to
be attaching himself to them as the first who had ever touched his
heart or opened to him a gleam of better things.

By the next day, however, he was in a quieter and more reasonable
state, and Mrs. Woodford was able to have a long talk with him. She
represented that the difference of opinions made it almost certain
that his father would never consent to his remaining under her roof,
and that even if this were possible, Portchester was far too much
infected with the folly from which he had suffered so much; and his
uncle would take care that no one he would meet should ever hear of
it.

"There's little good in that," said the boy moodily. "I'm a thing
they'll jibe at and bait any way."

"I do not see that, if you take pains with yourself. Your uncle
said you showed blood and breeding, and when you are better dressed,
and with him, no one will dare to mock his Excellency's nephew.
Depend upon it, Peregrine, this is the fresh start that you need."

"If you were there--"

"My boy, you must not ask for what is impossible. You must learn to
conquer in God's strength, not mine."

All, however, that passed may not here be narrated, and it
apparently left that wayward spirit unconvinced. Nevertheless, when
on the second day Major Oakshott himself came over with his brother,
and informed Peregrine that his uncle was good enough to undertake
the charge of him, and to see that he was bred up in godly ways in a
Protestant land, free from prelacy and superstition, the boy seemed
reconciled to his fate. Major Oakshott spoke more kindly than usual
to him, being free from fresh irritation at his misd