“My name is Morton”

“Morton is it;—­perhaps my friend’s;—­ah—­ah,—­yes.”  He didn’t like to say uncle because Reginald didn’t look old enough, and he knew he ought not to say brother, because the elder brother in England would certainly have had the property.

“I am Mr. John Morton’s cousin.”

“Oh;—­Mr. Morton’s cousin.  I asked whether you were the owner of that farm-house because I intruded just now by passing through the yards, and I would have apologized.  Good afternoon to you, sir.”  Then Reginald having thus done his duty returned home.

Mary Masters when she was alone was again very angry with herself.  She knew thoroughly how perverse she had been when she declared that Larry Twentyman was a fit companion for herself, and that she had said it on purpose to punish the man who was talking to her.  Not a day passed, or hardly an hour of a day, in which she did not tell herself that the education she had received and the early associations of her life had made her unfit for the marriage which her friends were urging upon her.  It was the one great sorrow of her life.  She even repented of the good things of her early days because they had given her a distaste for what might have otherwise been happiness and good fortune.  There had been moments in which she had told herself that she ought to marry Larry Twentyman and adapt herself to the surroundings of her life.  Since she had seen Reginald Morton frequently, she had been less prone to tell herself so than before; and yet to this very man she had declared her fitness for Larry’s companionship!

CHAPTER XVI

Mr. Gotobed’s Philanthropy

Mr. Gotobed, when the persecutions of Goarly were described to him at the scene of the dead fox, had expressed considerable admiration for the man’s character as portrayed by what he then heard.  The man,—­a poor man too and despised in the land, was standing up for his rights, all alone, against the aristocracy and plutocracy of the county.  He had killed the demon whom the aristocracy and plutocracy worshipped, and had appeared there in arms ready to defend his own territory,—­one against so many, and so poor a man against men so rich!  The Senator had at once said that he would call upon Mr. Goarly, and the Senator was a man who always carried out his purposes.  Afterwards, from John Morton, and from others who knew the country better than Morton, he learned further particulars.  On the Monday and Tuesday he fathomed,—­or nearly fathomed,—­that matter of the 7s. 6d. an acre.  He learned at any rate that the owner of the wood admitted a damage done by him to the corn and had then, himself, assessed the damage without consultation with the injured party; and he was informed also that Goarly was going to law with the lord for a fuller compensation.  He liked Goarly for killing the fox, and he liked him more for going to law with Lord Rufford.