pencil.

"Nevil once indited an ode to me entitled 'The Lament of the
Laundress.' I fear I'm incorrigible."

"What displeases you, sir?" demanded his son after a little pause;
"it's no use pretending there's nothing wrong; you only do that when
you want to say something you think won't be acceptable."

"Well, then, Aymer, I say this: Christopher is your concern. I don't
doubt your power to manage him, but I can speak of yourself, and I
tell you it's a very bad thing to live with an unsatisfied suspicion;
particularly bad for you. If you don't clear this up you will never
feel quite at ease with the boy. It is so already, is it not?"

Aymer admitted reluctantly that it was indeed the case.

"Don't let anything stand between you, Aymer. I am thinking of you, of
course," he added hastily.

"Are you sure you are not thinking of yourself?" returned his son,
half laughing, half ruefully; and his father flushed a little.

"Perhaps I was," he said humbly. "It would worry me if you were not
happy with him."

Aymer laughed outright at that and assured him he knew how to make
allowances for his well-known selfishness. But he took his advice and
grappled with the difficulty next afternoon. Christopher was mending a
rod, seated on the floor as usual.

"We've not found that sovereign," said Caesar abruptly.

Christopher looked up quickly, and then went on with his work after a
brief "Oh!"

"Did you take it, Christopher?"

He asked the question quite slowly and looked at the boy, who got
scarlet but went on tying his rod and appeared to be considering the
question carefully, weighing it in his mind as it were, and when he
answered, it was as deliberately as Aymer had questioned him.

"No, sir."

Aymer felt a sudden sense of relief, for lying had not been one of
Christopher's faults. Then almost immediately he found himself
wondering first, why the boy was not angry, and secondly, why it had
taken so much thought to answer at all. However, he let the matter
drop and told himself he was satisfied. Christopher finished mending
his rod and then sat still considering deeply. Presently he took out a
penny from his pocket and began rolling it on the thick carpet, and,
as he had remarked to Caesar, it did not roll far, try as he would. At
last he jumped up with a satisfied mien and went out. Caesar heard him
whistling as he went down the passage and felt easier in his mind.
Renata and the babies paid their usual visit after