Lester is going to retire, and Jem has the school?'

'Then, it must be Calcott and the trustees who are out of their senses.'

'Do you not consider it an excellent appointment?'

'It might be so some years hence,' said the Earl. 'I am afraid it will
tie him down to a second-rate affair, when he might be doing better;
and the choice is the last thing I should have expected from Calcott.'

'He opposed it. He wanted to bring in a very ordinary style of person,
from ---- School, but Jem's superiority and the general esteem for my
aunt carried the day.'

'What did Ramsbotham and his set do?'

'They were better than could have been hoped; they gave us their votes
when they found their man could not get in.'

'Ha? As long as that fellow is against Calcott, he cares little whom
he supports. I am sorry that Calcott should be defeated, even for
James's sake. How did Richardson vote?'

'He was doubtful at first, but I brought him over.'

Lord Ormersfield gave a quick, searching glance as he said,' James
Frost did not make use of our interest in this matter.'

'Jem never did. He and my aunt held back, and were unwilling to oppose
the Squire. They would have given it up, but for me. Father, I never
supposed you could be averse to my doing my utmost for Jem, when all
his prospects were at stake.'

'I should have imagined that James was too well aware of my sentiments
to allow it.'

What a cloud on the happy morning!

Louis eagerly exclaimed: 'James is the last person to be blamed! He
and my aunt were always trying to stop me, but I would not listen to
their scruples. I knew his happiness depended on his success, and I
worked for him, in spite of himself. If I did wrong, I can only be
very sorry; but I cannot readily believe that I transgressed by setting
the question before people in a right light. Only, whose fault soever
it was, it was not Jem's.'

Lord Ormersfield had not the heart to see one error in his son on such
a day as this, more especially as Mary peeped out behind the urn to
judge of his countenance, and he met her pleading eyes, swimming in
tears.

'No, I find no fault,' he kindly said. 'Young, ardent spirits may be
excused for outrunning the bounds that their elders might impose. But
you have not removed my amazement. James intending to marry on the
grammar-school!--it cannot be worth 300 pounds a year.'

'Isabel is satisfied. She never desired anything but a quiet, simple,
useful lif