"Why, yes--I always supposed so. Don't you?"

"No, I don't!" The answer was almost a snarl. "I'm bailiff, overlooker,
anything you like to call it. My master is at Oxford, at Christ Church. He
won't read, and he can't row, so he is devoting his time to learning how to
get rid of the money I am to save up for him. _I_ own Brackenhill?" He
faced abruptly round. "All that timber is mine, they say; and if I cut down
a stick your aunt Middleton is at me: 'Think of Horace.' The place was
mortgaged when I came into it. I pinched and saved--I freed it--for Horace.
Why shouldn't I mortgage it again if I please--raise money and live royally
till my time comes, eh? They'd all be at me, dinning 'Horace! Horace!' and
my duty to those who come after me, into my ears. Look at the drawing-room
furniture!"

"The prettiest old room I ever saw," said Percival.

"Ah! you're right there. But my sister doesn't think so. It's shabby, she
would tell you. But does she ask me to furnish it for her? No, no, it isn't
worth while: mine is such a short lease. When Horace marries and comes into
his inheritance, of course it must be done up. It would be a pity to waste
money about it now, especially as there's a bit of land lies between two
farms of mine, and if I don't go spending a lot in follies, I can buy it.
Think of that! I can buy it--_for Horace!_"

Percival was guarded in his replies to this and similar outbursts; and Mrs.
Middleton, seeing that he showed no disposition to toady his grandfather or
to depreciate Horace, told Godfrey Hammond that, though her brother was so
absurd about him, she thought he seemed a good sort of young man, after
all. "Time will show," was the answer. Now, this was depressing, for
Godfrey had established a reputation for great sagacity.

[TO BE CONTINUED.]

ABBEYS AND CASTLES.

It is a frequent reflection with the stranger in England that the beauty
and interest of the country are private property, and that to get access to
them a key is always needed. The key may be large or it may be small, but
it must be something that will turn a lock. Of the things that charm an
American observer in the land of parks and castles, I can think of very few
that do not come under this definition of private property. When I have
mentioned the hedgerows and the churches I have almost exhausted the list.
You can enjoy a hedgerow from the public road, and I suppose that even if
you are a Dissenter you may enjoy a No