e looking to you to
lead every scheme of pleasure or improvement, and the vicar looking to
you to be his right hand, and all the growing boys looking to you to
help them to a start in life, and the old people expecting you to make
their last days easy. You would be the hardest-worked man in the
country if you did half the work that was waiting for you, and it would
be unselfish work, too--thinking of others, and not of yourself."

Jack looked at her, and his face softened.

"That's true," he said frankly. "I'm sorry! You are right, and I am
wrong. I'm in a bad temper, and can't see things in their right light
to-day. Of course, if one really settled down to it, there would be
plenty to do; it's when one is only playing with the position that time
drags."

"Well, it ought not to drag to-day, at all events. We must be very dull
if we cannot amuse ourselves in surveying the domain, and seeing all
there is to be seen. I am going to put on my hat this minute and
examine the gardens, and go down to the stables to look at the horses.
If anyone likes to come too, they may, but my plans are fixed," cried
Mollie, nodding her saucy head; and at the magic word "stables," a ray
of interest lit up the two masculine faces.

Ten minutes later the four young people were strolling down the drive,
the girls with serge coats over their white blouses, and sailor-hats on
their heads, the men wearing their cloth caps with an evident air of
enjoyment. They turned the corner of the house, and coming round to the
south side uttered simultaneous exclamations of surprise and delight.

Along the entire length of the house ran an enormously wide terrace
edged with a balustrade, from the centre of which a flight of marble
steps led to an Italian garden, its green sward and stiffly outlined
flower-beds flanked by a quantity of curiously cut shrubs.

Beyond this garden the ground dipped sharply, showing first a glade of
trees whose fresh spring foliage contrasted with the dark colours of the
evergreens; then came a glimpse of a lake, a sweep of park; and beyond
all a glorious, wide-stretching view over the countryside. Perched upon
one of the highest sites for miles around, this terraced walk afforded
such a panorama of beauty as is rarely to be found even in our well-
favoured isles, and withal the beauty was of that peaceful, home-like
nature which irresistibly endears itself to the heart.

The four young people stood in silence gazin