go with
us."

George shook his head.

"I think that it would be better the other way, Major. We will go
with you as we are, and get married after you come back."

The next day Frank had a long talk with Mr. Norton.

"Well, sir, your plan would suit me very well. Nothing could be
better," said the old steward. "In fact, I was going to tell you
that I was beginning to find that the outdoor work was getting too
much for me, and that though I should be very sorry to give it up
altogether, I must either arrange with you to have help, or else
find a successor. I am sure that the arrangement you propose would
suit me exactly.

"George Lechmere would be just the man for the work. We used to
think him the best judge of livestock in the county, and he is a
good all-round farmer. If he were to take the work of the home farm
off my hands, I could keep on very well with the rest of the estate
for another two or three years, and as he would act as my assistant
he would, by the end of that time, be quite capable of taking it
over altogether. I should then move into Chippenham. We have two
married daughters living, and now that we have no one at home, my
wife has been saying for some time that she would rather settle
there than go on living in the country, and there is really no more
occasion for me to go on working. So, as soon as Lechmere has got
the whole thing in hand, I shall be quite ready to hand it over to
him."

"Well, I am very glad that it is so, Norton. Of course, I should
never have made any change until you yourself were perfectly
willing to give it up, but as you are willing, I am certainly glad
to be able to put him into it. As you know, he saved my life, and
has done me many other great services, and I regard him as a friend
and want to keep him near me. Of course, he will go into the
farmhouse, and after you retire he can either move into yours, or
remain there, as he likes. Naturally, as long as you live, Norton,
I shall continue the rate of pay you have always had. You were over
thirty years with my father, and I should certainly make no
difference in that respect."

"Well, George, I have arranged your business," Frank said that
evening. "Norton is getting on in life now, and he begins to find
his work in winter a little too hard for him, so I have arranged
that you are to take the management of the home farm altogether off
his hands, and will, of course, establish yourself at the house.
You will be a s