about to withdraw himself
from the world. The fleeces for bearing which he was preparing his
flocks, though they might be shorn by him, would never return their
prices to his account. They would do so for his daughter and his
son-in-law; but in these circumstances, it would have been well for
him to have left the flocks to his son-in-law, and to have turned
his mind to the consideration of other matters. "There should be a
year devoted to that final year to be passed within the college, so
that, by degrees, the mind may be weaned from the ignoble art of
money-making." I had once so spoken to him; but there he was, as
intent as ever, with his mind fixed on the records of the price of
wool as they came back to him from the English and American markets.
"It is all for his daughter," I had said to myself. "Had he been
blessed with a son, it would have been otherwise with him." So I
got on to my steam-tricycle, and in a few minutes I was at Little
Christchurch. He was coming in after a hard day's work among the
flocks, and seemed to be triumphant and careful at the same time.

"I tell you what it is, Neverbend," said he; "we shall have the fluke
over here if we don't look after ourselves."

"Have you found symptoms of it?"

"Well; not exactly among my own sheep; but I know the signs of it so
well. My grasses are peculiarly dry, and my flocks are remarkably
well looked after; but I can see indications of it. Only fancy where
we should all be if fluke showed itself in Britannula! If it once got
ahead we should be no better off than the Australians."

This might be anxiety for his daughter; but it looked strangely like
that personal feeling which would have been expected in him twenty
years ago. "Crasweller," said I, "do you mind coming into the house,
and having a little chat?" and so I got off my tricycle.

"I was going to be very busy," he said, showing an unwillingness. "I
have fifty young foals in that meadow there; and I like to see that
they get their suppers served to them warm."

"Bother the young foals!" said I. "As if you had not men enough about
the place to see to feeding your stock without troubling yourself.
I have come out from Gladstonopolis, because I want to see you;
and now I am to be sent back in order that you might attend to the
administration of hot mashes! Come into the house." Then I entered
in under the verandah, and he followed. "You certainly have got the
best-furnished house in the empire,"