ent
painted in his countenance. 'Well, that's the last thing in the world I
should have expected! You are not at all the sort of person I should
have thought would care about a uniform; and now I should have supposed
you'd have thought it extravagant to have a coat on purpose only for one
day. And I'm sure Lady Diana Sweepstakes thought as I do, for when I
told her of that motto over your kitchen chimney--"WASTE NOT, WANT
NOT"--she laughed, and said that I had better not talk to you about
uniforms, and that my mother was the proper person to write to about my
uniform; but I'll tell Lady Diana, uncle, how good you are, and how much
she was mistaken.'

'Take care how you do that,' said Mr. Gresham, 'for perhaps the lady was
not mistaken.'

'Nay, did not you say just now you would give poor Ben a uniform?'

'I said I would if he thought it necessary to have one.'

'Oh, I'll answer for it he'll think it necessary,' said Hal, laughing,
'because it is necessary.'

'Allow him, at least, to judge for himself,' said Mr. Gresham.

'My dear uncle, but I assure you,' said Hal earnestly, 'there's no
judging about the matter, because really, upon my word, Lady Diana said
distinctly that her sons were to have uniforms--white, faced with
green--and a green and white cockade in their hats.'

'May be so,' said Mr. Gresham, still with the same look of calm
simplicity. 'Put on your hats, boys, and come with me. I know a
gentleman whose sons are to be at this archery meeting, and we will
inquire into all the particulars from him. Then, after we have seen
him--it is not eleven o'clock yet--we shall have time enough to walk on
to Bristol, and choose the cloth for Ben's uniform if it is necessary.'

'I cannot tell what to make of all he says,' whispered Hal, as he
reached down his hat. 'Do you think, Ben, he means to give you this
uniform or not?'

'I think,' said Ben, 'that he means to give me one if it is necessary;
or, as he said, if I think it is necessary.'

'And that to be sure you will, won't you? or else you'll be a great
fool, I know, after all I've told you. How can anyone in the world know
so much about the matter as I, who have dined with Lady Diana
Sweepstakes but yesterday, and heard all about it from beginning to end?
And as for this gentleman that we are going to, I'm sure, if he knows
anything about the matter, he'll say exactly the same as I do.'

'We shall hear,' said Ben, with a degree of composure which Hal co