but my own affairs. How would Greg do? He has
been taking duty for me since I could not do it myself. I know that he
is a hard working fellow, and he has a wife and a couple of children;
his curacy is only 70 pounds a year, and it would be a perfect godsend,
for he has no interest in the Church, and he might be years without
preferment."

"I should think he would do very well, Bastow. Yes, he reads well, which
I own I care for that a good deal more than for the preaching; not
that I have anything to say against that. He gives sound and practical
sermons, and they have the advantage of being short, which is a great
thing. In the first place, it is good in itself, and in the second,
specially important in a village congregation, where you know very well
every woman present is fidgeting to get home to see that the pot is not
boiling over, and the meat in the oven is not burnt. Yes, I will go down
tomorrow afternoon and ask him if he would like the living. You were
talking of selling the furniture; how much do you suppose it is worth?"

"I don't suppose it will fetch above seventy or eighty pounds; it is
solid and good, but as I have had it in use nearly forty years, it would
not go for much."

"Well, let us say a hundred pounds," the Squire said. "I will give you a
check for it. I dare say Greg will find it difficult to furnish, and he
might have to borrow the money, and the debt would be a millstone round
his neck, perhaps, for years, so I will hand it over with the Rectory to
him."

So they talked for an hour or two on village matters, and the Squire was
well pleased, when his old friend went up to bed, that he had succeeded
in diverting his thoughts for a time from the painful subject that had
engrossed them for weeks.

"You have slept well," he said, when they met at breakfast, "I can see
by your face."

"Yes, I have not slept so soundly for months. I went to sleep as soon
as my head touched the pillow, and did not awake until the chambermaid
knocked at the door."

"That second glass of punch did it, Bastow. It is a fine morning; we
shall have a brisk drive back. I am very glad that I changed my mind and
brought the gig instead of the close carriage."

In the afternoon the Squire drove into Reigate. He found the curate at
home, and astonished and delighted him by asking him if he would like
the living of Crowswood. It came altogether as a surprise to him, for
the Rector's intentions to resign had not been ma