the road. He had not been
mistaken, it was Sydney, indeed; and as soon as the young fellow saw his
father he stopped the vehicle, told the driver to go on to the Rectory
with his portmanteau, and turned to his father with a triumphant smile.
Lettice did not meet the pair for a minute or two, so the son's
communication was made first to Mr. Campion alone.

"Here I am, sir!" was the young man's greeting, "turned up again like a
bad half-penny."

"Welcome anyhow, my boy," said the rector, "and sterling coin, I'll
warrant, however much you may malign yourself." He was too nervous to
ask a direct question about his son's success. "We have been very dull
without you. Lettice is counting on your help to break in her pony to
the saddle."

"You mustn't be dull after a week's absence. What would you do if I had
to be more than half the year at Cambridge?"

"Ah, that would be a different thing. Have they given you an exhibition
then?"

"Well, not exactly that." The rector's face fell, but it brightened as
Sydney proceeded with a touch of youthful pomposity. "Your old pupil is
a Scholar of Trinity."

The rector was carrying his cane as he walked along, and when Sydney had
told his good news he stopped short, his face aglow, and for lack of any
more eloquent mode of expressing his satisfaction, raised it in the air
and brought it down with sounding emphasis on his companion's back.

Sydney laughed.

"Laudatur et alget," he said. "How many stripes would it have been if I
had come home disgraced?"

"The stripes would have been my portion in that case," the rector
answered, with a hearty laugh. He had not been so jovial for many
months.

Then Lettice came running up, and had to be told the news, and clung to
Sydney's neck with kisses, which he graciously permitted rather than
returned. But he was gratified by her affection, as well as by the pride
and pleasure which his father took in his success, and the less
discriminating, but equally warm congratulations and caresses showered
upon him by his mother.

Indeed for the rest of the day, Sydney was caressed and complimented to
his heart's content. He preferred the compliments to the caresses, and
he was not unloving to his parents, although he repulsed Lettice when
she attempted to kiss him more than once. He had come back from
Cambridge with an added sense of manliness and importance, which did not
sit ill upon his handsome face and the frank confidence of his manner.
I