‘Not Tom Madison, I know,’ said Mr. Holdsworth, laughing.  ’But I did not come out to combat that point, but to inquire after the commissions you kindly undertook.’

’I have brought you such a set of prizes!  Red rubrics, red margins; and for the apparatus, I have brought a globe with all the mountains in high relief;—­yes, and an admirable physical atlas, and a box of instruments and models for applying mathematics to mechanics.  We might give evening lectures, and interest the young farmers.’

‘Pray,’ said the Vicar, with a sound of dismay, ’where may the bill be?  I thought the limits were two pounds eighteen.’

‘Oh!  I take all that on myself.’

‘We shall see,’ said Mr. Holdsworth, not gratefully.  ’Was Origen sent home in time for you to bring?’

‘There!’ cried Louis, starting, ’Origen is lying on the very chair where I put him last January.  I will write to Jem Frost to-morrow to send him to the binder.’

‘Is it of any use to ask for the music?’

’I assure you, Mr. Holdsworth, I am very sorry.  I’ll write at once to Frost.’

’Then I am afraid the parish will not be reformed as you promised last Christmas,’ said the Vicar, turning, with a smile, to Mrs. Frost.  ‘We were to be civilized by weekly concerts in the school.’

‘What were you to play, Louis?’ said Mrs. Frost, laughing.

‘I was to imitate all the birds in the air at once,’ said Louis, beginning to chirp like a melee of sparrows, turning it into the croak of a raven, and breaking off suddenly with, ’I beg your pardon—­ I forgot it was Sunday!  Indeed, Mr. Holdsworth, I can say no more than that I was a wretch not to remember.  Next time I’ll write it all down in the top of my hat, with a pathetic entreaty that if my hat be stolen, the thief shall fulfil the commissions, and punctually send in the bill to the Rev. W. B. Holdsworth!’

‘I shall hardly run the risk,’ said Mr, Holdsworth, smiling, as he parted with them, and disappeared within his clipped yew hedges.

‘Poor, ill-used Mr. Holdsworth!’ cried Aunt Catharine.

‘Yes, it was base to forget the binding of that book,’ said Louis, gravely.  ‘I wish I knew what amends to make.’

’You owe amends far more for making a present of a commission.  I used to do the like, to save myself trouble, till I came down in the world, and then I found it had been a mere air de grand seigneur.’

’I should not dare to serve you or Jem so; but I thought the school was impersonal, and could receive a favour.’

’It is no favour, unless you clearly define where the commission ended and the gift began.  Careless benefits oblige no one.’

Fitzjocelyn received his aunt’s scoldings very prettily.  His manner to her was a becoming mixture of the chivalrous, the filial, and the playful.  Mary watched it as a new and pretty picture.  All his confidence, too, seemed to be hers; but who could help pouring out his heart to the ever-indulgent, sympathizing Aunt Catharine?  It was evidently the greatest treat to him to have her for his guest, and his attention to her extended even to the reading a sermon to her in the evening, to spare her eyes; a measure so entirely after Aunt Melicent’s heart, that Mary decided that even she would not think her cousin so hopelessly fashionable.