ent so far away--I being an only child--my father
decided to secure the services of a private tutor, and in due time Mr
John Nesbitt, a Cambridge man, and a very fine fellow in every respect,
became a member of our household. To him I hold myself indebted for a
most excellent education, and for many other things beside. He
continued my education until I attained the age of fifteen years, after
which he remained on as a sort of general factotum to my father, while I
devoted myself to the management of the farm, relieving my father of all
the hard work and so leaving him free to enjoy himself in his own way.
Such, briefly stated, was the general condition of affairs at Bella
Vista on the afternoon referred to at the beginning of this chapter--on
which day, by the way, I attained to the age of seventeen years; except
that, after building and furnishing his new house, my father regularly
employed all his surplus cash in extending the area of his property, and
improving his flocks and herds by the frequent purchase of valuable
animals for breeding purposes.

As I have said, on the afternoon that marks the opening of my remarkable
story I had arrived within a mile of the gate in the stout picket fence
which surrounded our garden as a protection against the invasion of
predatory animals, when my horse, Prince, suddenly pricked up his ears,
and, looking away to the eastward, whinnied, while at the same moment
the rhythmical beat of cantering hoofs came softly to my ear from a
considerable distance, floating on the gentle, almost imperceptible,
easterly zephyr that happened to be breathing at the moment. Aroused
thus from some day-dream into which I had fallen, I glanced up, and,
looking in the direction of the sound, became aware of a small cloud of
dust gleaming yellow in the afternoon sun, about a mile away to the
eastward; and in the midst of it appeared two mounted figures which,
even at that distance, I identified without difficulty as Mr Lestrange,
our next-door neighbour at Triannon, some fourteen miles away, and his
eleven-year-old daughter Nell. They must have seen and recognised me at
the same moment, for a few seconds later a shout from Mr Lestrange
reached me; and, turning Prince's head in their direction and pressing
my unarmed heels gently to his sides, I cantered off to meet them. Some
three or four minutes later we came together, and, all reining up as I
wheeled my horse alongside them, we proceeded toward B