Soon, however, the two lads were fast friends, and spent much of their time together.  John Halifax could read, but he had not yet learnt to write; so Phineas became his friendly tutor, and repaid his devotion by teaching him all he knew.

The years wore away, John Halifax labouring faithfully, if not always contentedly, in the tannery; and in time, old Mr. Fletcher finding him worthy of the highest trust, John came to be manager of the business, and to live in the house of his master.  In knowledge, too, he had grown, for Phineas had proved a good tutor, and John so apt a pupil that before long Phineas confessed that John knew more than himself.

II.—­Ursula March

It happened that John and Phineas were spending the summer days at the rural village of Enderley, where they lived at Rose Cottage.  Enderley was not far from Norton Bury, and every day John rode there to look after the tannery and the flour-mill which had recently been added to Mr. Fletcher’s now flourishing business.

This Rose Cottage was really two houses, in one of which the young men lived while an invalid gentleman and his daughter occupied the other.  John Halifax had noted this young lady in his walks across the breezy downs, and thought her the sweetest creature he had seen.  Later, when he got to know that her name was Ursula, he was thrilled with happy memories of the little girl who had thrown him the slice of bread, for he had heard her called by that same name.  He wondered if this might be she grown into a young woman.

Ere long he came to know his pretty neighbour, to companion her in rural walks.  No artist ever painted a more attractive picture than these two made stepping briskly across the wind-swept uplands; she with her sparkling dark eyes, her great mass of brown curls escaping from her hood, and John with his frank, ruddy face, and his fine, swinging, manly figure.

Ursula’s father, who had come here ailing, died at the cottage, and was buried in Enderley churchyard.  He had been the same Henry March whose life John had saved years before when the Avon was in flood.  He was cousin to Squire Brithwood, who also owed his life to John on the same occasion.  Unhappily, Ursula’s fortune was left in the keeping of that highly undesirable person.

John was very sad at the thought of Ursula leaving the cottage for the squire’s home at Mythe House, for he knew that she had been happier there in the sweet country retreat than she would ever be in the ill-conducted household of her guardian.  She, too, had regrets at the thought of going, as John and she had become fast friends.  He told her that Mr. Brithwood would probably deny his right to be considered a friend of hers, and would not allow his claim to be thought a gentleman, though a poor one.

“It is right,” he pursued, on her expression of surprise, “that you should know who and what I am to whom you are giving the honour of your kindness.  Perhaps you ought to have known before; but here at Enderley we seem to be equals—­friends.”