said nothing. I never came across such an old Turk. How
you have spoiled him! If he isn't pleased, he won't take the
trouble to answer you a word. I was very near telling him a piece
of my mind. But he _looked_ all the more. I believe he would
poison Harry if he came here. What can have made him hate him
so?"

"He is jealous of him. Mary and I were so foolish as to praise
poor Betty's flowers before Simon, and he has never forgiven it.
I think, too, that he suspects, somehow, that we talked about
getting Harry here. I ought to have told you, but I quite forgot
it."

"Well, it can't be helped. I don't think I can do any good in
that quarter; so now I shall be off to the Grange to see what I
can do there."

"How do you mean?"

"Why, Harry is afraid of being turned out of his cottage. I saw
how it worried him, thinking about it; so I shall go to the
Grange, and say a good word for him. Wurley can't refuse if I
offer to pay the rent myself--it's only six pounds a year. Of
course, I sha'n't tell Harry; and he will pay it all the same;
but it may make all the difference with Wurley, who is a regular
screw."

"Do you know Mr. Wurley?"

"Yes, just to speak to. He knows all about me, and he will be
very glad to be civil."

"No doubt he will; but I don't like your going to his house. You
don't know what a bad man he is. Nobody but men on the turf, and
that sort of people, go there now; and I believe he thinks of
nothing but gambling and game-preserving."

"Oh, yes; I know all about him. The county people are beginning
to look shy at him; so he'll be all the more likely to do what I
ask him."

"But you won't get intimate with him?"

"You needn't be afraid of that."

"It is a sad house to go to--I hope it won't do you any harm."

"Ah, Katie!" said Tom, with a smile not altogether cheerful, "I
don't think you need be anxious about that. When one has been a
year at Oxford, there isn't much snow left to soil; so now I am
off. I must give myself plenty of time to cook Wurley."

"Well, I suppose I must not hinder you," said Katie. "I do hope
you will succeed in some of your kind plans for Harry."

"I shall do my best; and it is a great thing to have somebody
besides oneself to think about and try to help--some poor
person--don't you think so, even for a man?"

"Of course I do. I am sure you can't be happy without it, any
more than I. We shouldn't be our mother's children if we could
be."

"Well, good-bye, dear;