ide, and henceforth accept as a
principle of life. There was too great confusion in his mind for him
to weigh his instinctive action and subsequent behaviour against what,
to Aymer, was the one and only possible code of honour. For the
present it was enough that in Aymer's eyes that action was mean,
despicable and contemptible. The Law of Consequence he dimly realised
worked from the centre of Aymer's being and not from the ill-trained
centre of his, Christopher's, individuality.

"In future," went on Aymer, still too furiously angry to weigh his
words or remember they were addressed to a child, "if I have occasion
to make any inquiries of you we will have a distinct understanding as
to whether we are speaking with the same code or not. You can go."

Christopher turned blindly away, and was stopped at the door. "As for
the sovereign, which must be very precious to you, considering the
price you were ready to pay for it, I will have it pierced and put on
a chain, so you can wear it round your neck. It would be a pity to
lose anything so valuable."

Christopher turned with indignant protest in every line. However Aymer
might talk of their separate codes of honour, he was, nevertheless,
dealing out a punishment adequate to the infringement of his own code,
and to Christopher it appeared unjust and cruel. For the moment it was
in him to remonstrate fiercely, but the words died away, for such a
protest must of necessity be based on an acceptance of this divided
code, and to that he would not stoop. It was some poor consolation to
pay the penalty of a higher law than he was supposed to understand. He
turned again to the door and got away before a storm of tears swamped
his brave control.

When Charles Aston returned that night he found Aymer in a very
irritable mood. Nevil, in his gentle, patient way, had been doing his
best to soothe him, but in vain. When Aymer was not irritated, he was
bitter and sarcastic, even his greeting to his father was short and
cold. It was clear some event in the day had upset his mental
equilibrium, and Christopher's absence (he did not even appear to say
"good-night") gave Mr. Aston a clue to the situation.

Nevil was wading through a book on farm management, which bored him
considerably. His part was to read long extracts which Aymer was
comparing with some letters in the "Field." They continued their
employment and Mr. Aston sat down to write a letter. From time to time
he paused and hea