the
setting sun. From a grove upon our left I could already see the high
chimneys and the flagstaff which marked the squire's dwelling.

"'My father made the fellow gardener,' said my companion, 'and then, as
that did not satisfy him, he was promoted to be butler. The house seemed
to be at his mercy, and he wandered about and did what he chose in it.
The maids complained of his drunken habits and his vile language. The
dad raised their wages all round to recompense them for the annoyance.
The fellow would take the boat and my father's best gun and treat
himself to little shooting parties. And all this with such a sneering,
leering, insolent face, that I would have knocked him down twenty times
over if he had been a man of my own age. I tell you, Holmes, I have had
to keep a tight hold upon myself all this time, and now I am asking
myself whether, if I had let myself go a little more, I might not have
been a wiser man.

"'Well, matters went from bad to worse with us, and this animal, Hudson,
became more and more intrusive, until at last, on his making some
insolent reply to my father in my presence one day, I took him by the
shoulder and turned him out of the room. He slunk away with a livid
face, and two venomous eyes which uttered more threats than his tongue
could do. I don't know what passed between the poor dad and him after
that, but the dad came to me next day and asked me whether I would mind
apologizing to Hudson. I refused, as you can imagine, and asked my
father how he could allow such a wretch to take such liberties with
himself and his household.

"'Ah, my boy,' said he, 'it is all very well to talk, but you don't know
how I am placed. But you shall know, Victor. I'll see that you shall
know, come what may! You wouldn't believe harm of your poor old father,
would you, lad?' He was very much moved, and shut himself up in the
study all day, where I could see through the window that he was writing
busily.

"'That evening there came what seemed to me to be a grand release, for
Hudson told us that he was going to leave us. He walked into the
dining-room as we sat after dinner, and announced his intention in the
thick voice of a half-drunken man.

"'I've had enough of Norfolk,' said he. 'I'll run down to Mr. Beddoes,
in Hampshire. He'll be as glad to see me as you were, I daresay.'

"'You're not going away in an unkind spirit, Hudson, I hope,' said my
father, with a tameness which made my blood boil.

"'