“You see, Ralph, girls brought up in a town are naturally different to one like Mabel.  They go to school, and are taught to sit upright and to behave discreetly, and to be general unnatural.  Mabel has been brought up at home and allowed to do as she liked, and she has consequently grown up what nature intended her to be.  Perhaps some day all girls will be allowed the same chance of being natural that boys have, and backboards and other contrivances for stiffening them and turning them into little wooden figures will be unknown.  It will be a good thing, in my opinion, when that time arrives.”

Ralph was often down at the Rectory, where he was always made welcome, Mr. Withers and his wife being anxious to learn as much of his disposition as they could.  They were well satisfied with the result.

“I fancy I know what is in Penfold’s mind,” the rector had said to his wife a few days after Ralph came down.  “I believe he has already quite settled it in his mind that some day Mabel and this lad shall make a match of it.”

“How absurd, John.  Why, Mabel is only a child.”

“Quite so, my dear; but in another three or four years she will be a young woman.  I don’t mean that Penfold has any idea that they are going to take a fancy to each other at present—­only that they will do so in the future.  You know he has said that he intends to leave a slice of his fortune to her, and I have no doubt that this lad will get the main bulk of his property.  I have often told you about his engagement to the lad’s mother, and how the breaking it off has affected his whole life.  It is natural that a lonely man as he is should plan for others.  He has no future of his own to look forward to, so he looks forward to some one else’s.  He has had no interest in life for a great many years, and I think he is making a new one for himself in the future of our girl and this lad.

“As far as I have seen of the boy I like him.  He is evidently a straightforward, manly lad.  I don’t mean to say that he has any exceptional amount of brains, or is likely to set the Thames on fire; but if he comes into the Penfold property that will not be of much importance.  He seems bright, good-tempered, and a gentleman.  That is quite good enough to begin with.  At any rate, there is nothing for us to trouble about.  If some day the young people get to like each other the prospect is a good one for the child; if not, there’s no harm done.  At present there can be no objection to our yielding to Penfold’s request and letting them ride about the country together.  Mabel is, as you say, little more than a child, and it is evident that the lad regards her rather in the light of a boy companion than as a girl.

“She is a bit of a tomboy, you know, Mary, and has very few girlish notions or ideas.  They evidently get on capitally together, and we need not trouble our heads about them but let things go their own way with a clear conscience.”