woke one morning to discover themselves lord and lady of
the situation. In their lamentations, not unmingled with a sense of
injury, at the desertion of which they were the victims, it had not
occurred to them to realise that there were alleviating circumstances in
their forlorn condition.

The great manor-house was theirs--library, dining-hall, corridors,
haunted chamber, roof, cellars--all except the servant's hall and the
room where Mrs Parker, the housekeeper, held austere sway. The park
was theirs, the woods, the stream, the paddocks, and the live-stock.
Nay, when they came to reckon all up, half the county was theirs, and a
mile or so of sea-beach into the bargain.

They were absolutely free to roam where they liked, do what they liked,
eat what they liked, and sit up at night to any hour that pleased them.
Mrs Parker, good soul, though excellent in academic exhortations and
prohibitions, was too infirm to put her laws into active practice; and
when, a day or two after the place had been left in her charge, she
succumbed to a touch of her enemy, the lumbago, and had to take to her
bed, these two young persons, though extremely sorry for her misfortune,
felt that the whole world lay like a glorious football at their feet.

"Good old Jilly!" exclaimed Tom in his balmiest mood one morning, when
these two young prodigals assembled for breakfast in the big dining-room
at the fashionable hour of eleven, with Raffles in full livery to attend
upon them. "This is what I call a lark and a half. Raffles, pass Miss
Jill the honey; and walk about, and make yourself useful. I tell you
what, we'll go and have a snap at the pheasants, and try a few drop
kicks over the Martyr's oak. What do you say?"

"I can't shoot awfully well," said Jill apologetically. "I'd sooner, if
you don't mind, Tom, walk about on the roof, or help you let the water
out of the big pond."

"Raffles, old chappie, more toast--a lot more toast for Miss Jill. I'll
have a wing of something myself. The fact is, Jilly," said he, when
Raffles had departed on his quest, "I wanted to get the beast out of the
way while I told you I'd got an idea."

"Oh, _what_, Tom?" asked Jill, in tones of surprised pleasure. Tom
glanced round cautiously, and then whispered, "You and I'll give a small
kick-up here on our own hooks. What do you say?"

"A party! Oh Tom! how clever of you to think of that!"

"You see," said Tom, accepting the homage meekly, "the ot