of four shillings in the pound. Further, sundry aged persons who had spent a long life in cursing the name of Mortiboy, took to praising it altogether, because Dick was helping them all. And the liberality towards his clerks with which he inaugurated his reign was almost enough of itself to make him popular.

But then came that really dreadful business about the old women. This, although he was gaining a golden name by making restitution for his father's ill deeds-like Solomon repairing the breaches which his father David had made-was enough to make all religious and right-minded people tremble in their shoes. Everybody knows that humility in the aged poor is the main. virtue which they are expected to display. In the church at Market Basing was a broad middle aisle, down which was ranged a row of wooden benches, backless, cushionless, hard and unpromising. On them sat, Sunday after Sunday, at these services, constant, never-flagging, all the old women in the parish. It was a gruesome assemblage: toothless, rheumatic, afflicted with divers pains and infirmities, they yet struggled, Sunday after Sunday, to the "free seats," so called by a bitter mockery, because those who sat in them had no other choice but to go.

On their regular attendance depended not so much their daily bread, which the workhouse might have given them, but their daily comforts; their tea and sugar; their wine if they were ill-and they always were ill; their blankets and their coals. Now, will it be believed that Dick, instigated by Ghrimes, who held the revolutionary maxim that religion, if it is to be real, ought not to be made a condition of charity, actually found out the names of these old trots, and made a weekly dole among them, without any conditions whatever? It was so. He really did it. After two or three Sundays the free seats were empty, all the old women having gone to different conventicles, where they got their religion, hot and hot, as they liked it; where they sat in comfortable pews, like the rest of the folk; and where they were treated as if, in the house of God, all men are alike and equal. When the curates called, they were cheeky; when they threatened, the misguided old ladies laughed; when they blustered, these backsliders, relying on their Dick, cracked their aged fingers in the young men's faces.

"He is a very dreadful man," said the rector. "What shall we do with him?"

He called. He explained the danger which befel these ignorant though elderly persons in frequenting an uncovenanted place of worship; but he spoke to deaf ears. Dick understood him not.

It was the time of the annual school feast. Dick was sitting in that exasperating Californian dress in the little bank parlour, consecrated to black cloth and respectability. His legs were on the window sill, his mouth had a cigar in it, his face was beaming with jollity, his heart was as light as a child's. All this was very bad.

Foiled in his first attempt, the rector made a second.

"There is another matter, Mr. Mortiboy, on which I would speak with you."

"Speak, Mr. Lightwood," said Dick. "Don't ask me for any money for the missionaries." "I will not," said good old Mr. Lightwood, mournfully. "I fear it would be of little use."

Dick pulled his beard and grinned Why this universal tendency of mankind to laugh when, from a position of strength, they are about to do something disagreeable?

"It is not about any of our societies,, Mr. Mortiboy. But I would fain hope that you will not refuse a trifle to our children's

We give them games, races,

school feast. and so forth. very short of funds."

With tea and cake.

We are

"Do you?" cried Dick "Look here, sir. What would you say if I offered to stand the whole thing-pay for the burst myself-grub, liquids, and prizes?”

The rector was dumbfoundered. It had hitherto been one of his annual difficulties to raise the money for his little fête, for St. Giles's parish was very large, and the parishioners generally poor. And here was a man offering to pay for everything!

Then Dick, who could never be a wholly submissive son of the Church, must needs put in a condition which spoiled it.

"All the children, mind. None of your Church children only."

"It has always been confined to our own children, Mr. Mortiboy. The Dissenters have their-ahem !-their-their-treat at another time."

whether they are Jews or Christians. That is their look-out, not mine. Take my offer, Mr. Lightwood. If you refuse, by Jove, I'll have a day of my own, and choose your day. We'll see who gets most youngsters. If you accept, you shall say grace, and do all the pious part yourself. Come, let us oblige each other. I am really sorry to I am really sorry to refuse you so often; and here is a chance." What was to be done with this dreadful man? If you crossed him, he was capable of ruining everything; and to yield to him was to give up half your dignity. But concession meant happiness to the children; and the good old clergyman, who could not possibly understand the attitude of mind of his new parishioner-seeing only perversity, where half was experience and half ignorance-yielded at once and gracefully.

Dick immediately assumed the whole conduct of the affair. Without making any reference to church or chapel, he issued handbills stating that sports, to which all the children in the place were invited, would be held on the following Wednesday, in his own paddock at Derngate. Then followed a goodly list of prizes to be run for, jumped for, wrestled for, and in other ways offered to public competition. And it became known that preparations were making on the most liberal scale. There was to be a dinner at one, a tea at five, and a supper at eight. There were to be fireworks. Above all, the races and the prizes.

Dick had no notion of doing a thing by halves. He got an itinerant circus from a neighbouring fair, a wild beast show, a Punch and Judy, swing-boats, a roundabout, and a performing monkey. Then he hired a magic lantern, and erected a tent where it was to be seen all day. Then he hired donkeys for races, got hundreds of coloured lamps from town, built an enormous marquee where any number of children might sit down to dinner, and sent out messengers to ascertain how many children might be expected.

This was the happiest period in Dick's life. The possessor of a princely income, the owner of an enormous fortune, he had but to lift his hand, and misery seemed to vanish. Justice, the propagation of prudential motives, religion, natural retribution for broken laws, all these are advanced ideas, of which Dick had but small conception.

Grace Heathcote described the day in one of her letters to Kate-those letters which

were almost the only pleasure the poor girl had at this time:

"As for the day, my dear, it was wonderful. I felt inclined to defend the climate of England at the point of the sword-I mean the needle. Dick, of course, threw California in my teeth. As we drove down the road in the waggonette, the grand old trees in the park were rustling in their lovely July foliage like a great lady in her court dress. The simile was suggested to me by mamma, who wore her green silk. Lucy and I were dressed alike-in white muslin. I had pink ribbons, and she wore blue; and round my neck was the locket with F.'s portrait in it, which you sent me-you good, kind, thoughtful Kate! Mamma does not like to see it; but you know my rebellious disposition. And papa took it in his fingers, and then pinched my cheek, as much as to say that he highly approved of my conduct. Oh! I know the dear old man's heart. I talk to him out in the fields, and find out all his little secrets. Men, my dear Kate, even if they are your own father, are all as simple as-what shall I say?-as Frank and papa.

"We got into Market Basing at twelve. The town was just exactly like market day, only without the smell of vegetables. It felt like Christmas Day in the summer. You know the paddock? It is not very big, but it was big enough. The front lawn of Derngate-poor old Uncle Mortiboy inside, not knowing what was going on!-was covered with a great marquee. The paddock had a racecourse marked round it, and a platform, and posts between, which were festooned with coloured lamps. All the children, in their Sunday best, were gathering about the place, waiting to be admitted.

"As we drove up, Dick came out, with a cigar between his teeth, of course, and the crowd gave a great cheer. Mamma said it seemed as if it was meant for us; and so we all got out of the waggonette, trying to look like princesses; and Dick helped us, and they all cheered again. Really, I felt almost like Royalty; which, my dear Kate, must be a state of life demanding a great strain upon the nerves, and a constant worry to know whether your bonnet is all right.

"Are we looking our best, Dick?' I asked, anxious to know.

"Your very best,' he said. "I take it as a compliment to my boys and girls.'

"I wish that woman Mary, our old servant, had not been standing close by. She gave me a look-such a look as I never saw her have before-as if I was doing her some mortal injury; and then turned away, and I saw her no more all day. I declare there's always something. If ever I felt happy in my life-except one day when Frank told me he loved me-it was last Wednesday; and that woman really spoiled at least an hour of the day for me, because she made me feel so uncomfortable. I wish she would

go away.

"As one o'clock struck, the band-did I tell you there was a band? A real band, Kate, the militia band from the Stores struck up, and Dick in five minutes had all the boys and girls in to dinner.

"The rector, and his curates, and the Dissenting ministers-in what the paper called 'a select company,' which means ourselves chiefly-were present. We all sat down: I next to Dick on his left hand, mamma on his right. The rector said grace. Dick whispered that we could not have too much Grace-his Californian way of expressing satisfaction at my personal appearance-and we began to eat and drink. Spare me the

details.

"One p.m. to two p.m.: legs of mutton, and rounds of beef, and huge plum puddings. "Two p.m. to three p.m.: the cherubs are all gorged, and lying about in lazy contentment, too happy to tease each other, and too lazy to do any mischief. Old Hester crying.

"What for, Hester?'

"Oh! miss, to think that Miss Susan never lived to see him come home again. And she so fond of him. And he so good and so kind.'.

"Poor old Hester! She follows her boy, as she calls him, about with her eyes. I have even seen her stroke the tails of his coat when he wasn't looking. Do men ever know how fond women are of them? And Dick is kind and good. He really is, Kate.

"At three, the games. And here a most wonderful surprise. Who should drive up to the paddock but Lord Hunslope himself, and the countess-who always gives me a cold shiver and Lord Launton? The earl marched straight up to us, and shook hands with papa.

"Pray, Mr. Heathcote," he said, in his lordliest way, 'introduce Mr. Mortiboy to me.'

"The Heathcotes had Parkside and Hunslope too before ever the Launtons had left their counters in the city; but of course we didn't insist on our superior rank at such a moment.

"Dick took off his hat with that curious pride of equality which comes, I suppose, of having estates in Mexico, and being able to throw the lasso. The countess shook hands with everybody; and Lord Launton, blushing horribly, dropped his stick, and shook hands too, after he had picked it up. I am quite sure that if Lord Launton, when he becomes a peer, could only have the gas turned off before he begins to speak, he would be made Prime Minister in a week. As it is, poor young man

"We all-I mean the aristocracy—stayed together the whole afternoon, bowing affably to our friends of a lower rank in life-the Battiscombe girls, and the Kerbys, and the rector's wife. I really do not know how I am to descend again. The earl made some most valuable remarks, which ought to be committed to writing for posterity. They may be found, though, scattered here and there about the pages of English literature. The curious may look for them. You see, 'Les esprits forts se rencontrent.'

"After the games, the earl gave away the prizes. I send you the local paper, giving an account of the proceedings. Little Stebbing, Mr. Battiscombe's clerk, was acting as reporter, and making an immense parade at a small table, which he brought himself. I never saw any one look so important. I spoke to him once.

me.

"Pray, miss,' he said, 'do not interrupt I represent the Press. The Fourth Estate, miss. enough flimsy.'

I'm afraid I sha'n't have

"Those were his very words, Kate. By flimsy, I learn that he meant writing paper. Do our great poets-does my adored Tennyson write on 'flimsy'? Then the Earl-ly party went away, and I made a pun, which you may guess; then we had tea; then we had dancing to the band on the platformDick waltzes like a German angel-and then we had supper. And then, O my dear Kate-alas! alas! such a disastrous termination to the evening-for Dick put his foot into all the proprieties. It was when they proposed his health. He hadn't fired pistols at anybody, or taken the name of the missionaries in vain, or worn a Panama hat, or done anything disgraceful at all. And now

it was to come. My poor cousin Dick! How will he get over it?

"They proposed his health after supper. The children were simply intoxicated-not with beer, for they had none: only lemonade and sweet things-but with fun, fireworks, and fruit tart. They cheered till their dear little throats were hoarse. Even the ugliest, reddest-faced, turnedest-up nosed girl looked pretty when papa called on them to drink the health of the giver of the feast. My own heart swelled, and Lucy cried outright. "Then Dick got up. My dear, he looked grand in the flicker of the gas-jets stirred about by the wind. He stood up, tall and strong, high up above us all, and passed his left hand down his long black beard. His brown eyes are so soft sometimes, too. They were soft now; and his under-lip has a way of trembling when he is moved. He was moved now. I can't remember all his speech. He began by telling the children that he was more happy to have them about him than they to come. Then he began good advice. No one knows how wise Dick is. He told them that what they wanted was fresh air, plenty of grub-his word, Kate, not mineand not too many books. Here they all screamed, and the clergymen shook their precious heads. I said, 'Hear, hear,' and mamma touched me on my arm. It is wrong, of course, in a young lady to have any opinions at all which the male sex do not first instil into her tender mind. Then he called their attention to the fact that they were not always going to be children; and that, if they wanted plenty to eat, they would have to work hard for it. And then he said, impressively shaking an enormous great fist at them

"And now, my boys and girls, remember this. Don't you believe people who tell you to be contented with what you've got. That's all nonsense. You've got to be discontented. The world is full of good things for those who have the courage to get up and seize them. Look round in your houses, and see what you have: then look round in rich men's houses-say mine and the rector's and see what We've got. Then be discontented with your own position till you're all rich too.'

"Here the rector rose, with a very red face.

"I cannot listen to this, Mr. Mortiboy -I must not listen to it. You are undoing the Church's teaching.'

"I've got nothing to do with the Church.' "You are attacking the Church's Catechism.'

"Does the Catechism teach boys to be contented?'

"It does, in explicit terms.'

"Then the Catechism is a most immoral book.'

"Dick wagged his head solemnly. "Boys and girls, chuck the Catechism into the fire, and be discontented.'

"Here the rector solemnly left the tent, and everybody looked serious. Dick took no notice, and went on.

"I'll tell you a story. In an English town that I know, there were two boys and two girls. They were all four poor, like most of you. They grew up in their native place till they were eighteen and twenty, and the boys fell in love with the girls. One was a contented fellow. His father had been a farm labourer, like some of your fathers. He would go on being a farm labourer. The other read that the world was full of ground that only waited for a man to dig it up; and he went away. I saw him last year. He had been out for four years. He had a farm, my boys, stocked with cattle and horses, all his own. Think of that! And he had a wife, my girls: his old sweetheart, come out to marry him. Think of that! Then I came home. I saw the other boy, a farm labourer still! He was bent with rheumatism already, because he was a slave. He had no money: no home: no prospects. And the girl he was to have married-well, my girls, if your teachers are worth their salt, they'll tell you what became of that girl. Go out into the world, boys. Don't stick here, crowding out the place, and trying to be called gentlemen. What the devil do you want a black coat for till you have earned it? Go out into the beautiful places in the world, and learn what a man is really worth. And now I hope you've all enjoyed yourselves. And so, good night.'

"Oh! Kate, Kate!-here was a firebrand in our very midst. And people are going about, saying that Dick is an infidel. But they can't shake his popularity, for the town loves his very name."

Grace's letter was all true. Dick actually said it. It was his solitary public oration. It had a profound effect. In the half-lighted marquee, as the big-bearded man stood towering over the children, with his right.