d.

"Eight-and-twenty," said Hugh, in correction; "and Crofton is two miles
from my uncle's."

"Eight-and-twenty. The father's joke lies there," observed the
right-hand man.

"No, it does not," said Hugh. He thought he was among a set of very odd
people,--none of them knowing what a Crofton boy was. A passenger who
sat beside the coachman only smiled when he was appealed to; so it might
be concluded that he was ignorant too; and the right and left-hand men
seemed so anxious for information, that Hugh told them all he
knew;--about the orchard and the avenue, and the pond on the heath, and
the playground; and Mrs. Watson, and the usher, and Phil, and Joe Cape,
and Tony Nelson, and several others of the boys.

One of the men asked him if he was sure he was going for the first
time,--he seemed so thoroughly informed of everything about Crofton.
Hugh replied that it was a good thing to have an elder brother like
Phil. Phil had told him just what to take to Crofton, and how to take
care of his money, and everything.

"Ay! and how do the Crofton boys take care of their money?"

Hugh showed a curious little inner pocket in his jacket, which nobody
would dream of that did not know. His mother had let him have such a
pocket in both his jackets; and he had wanted to have all his money in
this one now, to show how safely he could carry it. But his mother had
chosen to pack up all his five shillings in his box,--that square box,
with the new brass lock, on the top of all the luggage. In this pocket
there was only sixpence now,--the sixpence he was to give the coachman
when he was set down.

Then he went on to explain that this sixpence was not out of his own
money, but given him by his father, expressly for the coachman. Then
his right-hand companion congratulated him upon his spirits, and began
to punch and tickle him; and when Hugh writhed himself about, because he
could not bear tickling, the coachman said he would have no such doings,
and bade them be quiet. Then the passengers seemed to forget Hugh, and
talked to one another of the harvest in the north, and the hopping in
Kent. Hugh listened about the hopping, supposing it might be some new
game, as good as leap-frog; though it seemed strange that one farmer
should begin hopping on Monday, and that another should fix Thursday;
and that both should be so extremely anxious about the weather. But when
he found it was some sort of harvest-work, he left off listening, and
g