for me to attempt to give an account of all
that happened. The jollification was somehow very different from much
of the fun which Fenleigh J. had been accustomed to indulge in, in
company with his associates in the Upper Fourth; and though it was not
a whit less enjoyable, yet after it was over no one was heard to remark
that they'd "had their cake, and now they must pay for it."

On the last morning but one, when the boys came down to breakfast, they
found Queen Mab making a great fuss over something that had come by
post.

"Isn't it kind of your father?" she said. "Look what he's sent me!"

The present was handed round. It was a gold brooch, containing three
locks of hair arranged like a Prince of Wales's plume, two light curls,
and a dark one in the middle--Valentine's, Helen's, and Barbara's.

"He says it's to remind me of my three chicks when they are not with me
at Brenlands."

"Mine's in the middle!" cried Barbara.

"You ought to have some of Jack's put in as well," said Helen.

The boy glanced across at her with a pleased expression.

"Oh, no," he answered, "not alongside of yours."

During the remainder of the morning he seemed unusually silent, and
directly after dinner he disappeared.

"D'you know where Jack is?" asked Valentine.

"No," answered Helen; "he went out into the road just now, but I have
not seen him since."

It was a broiling day, and the children spent the greater part of the
afternoon reading under the shade of some trees in the garden. They
were just sitting down to tea when their cousin reappeared, covered
with dust, and looking very hot and tired. He refused to say what he
had been doing, and in answer to a fire of questions as to where he had
been he replied evasively, "Oh, only along the road for a walk."

"Look sharp!" said Valentine, bolting his last mouthful of cake, "we're
going to have one more game of croquet. Come on, you girls, and help
me to put up the hoops."

Jack, who in the course of his travels had acquired a prodigious
thirst, lingered behind to drink a fourth cup of tea.

"You silly boy," said his aunt, "where have you been?"

"To Melchester."

"To Melchester! You don't mean to say you've walked there and back in
this blazing sun?"

"Yes, I have. I wanted to get something."

"What?"

The boy rose from his chair, and came round to the head of the table.

"That's it," he said, producing a little screw of tissue paper from his
pocket. "It'