no brothers
or sisters--but when we met in the inn that wet night--when Dunlop and
I were nearly drowned getting down from the Alp--he told me that a fit
of gout had carried off his uncle quite unexpectedly."

"Poor chap, he seems a bit lonely," observed Malcolm sympathetically.

"Yes, he was mooning about, and rather bothered what to do next. So he
was delighted at the idea of joining some of our excursions. But I will
keep all that for the Wood House, for we had no end of adventures--the
dare-devil Englishmen as they called us. But never mind that, I must
hurry on."

"Harry is his uncle's heir--not that that amounts to much--but he has
come into possession of a fine old farm that has been in the family for
a hundred years at least, with plenty of good land, but, alas! little
capital. The facts of the case are these, Herrick. Roger Strickland was
not a rich man, and for want of a little ready money the farm has
deteriorated in value. There is plenty to be got out of the land if
only more could be spent on it; they want a new barn and some
outhouses, and some of the fencing is disgraceful. As for the Priory
itself--it is the Priory farm, you know--it is an old ramshackle place
and in sore need of repair; some of the floors are rotten, and there
are holes and crannies, and the mice and rats hold high revel in the
disused rooms."

"My dear fellow, your description is not alluring," remarked Malcolm,
wondering what all this meant.

"Oh, I am telling you the worst; it really is a lovely old place. Only
Harry declares he would not live there alone for anything; it is
supposed to be haunted by a certain evil-minded Strickland, in a green
velvet suit and a powdered periwig, who drags one leg--but I will tell
you the story another time; it will make your hair stand on end. Now
Harry's difficulty is this: he has so little capital that he is half
afraid of taking up the farm himself, and yet it is the only life he
cares about; and he wants to find some one, with money to spare, who
would join him in working the concern"--and here Cedric stopped and
looked significantly at Malcolm.

"Ah, I understand now," returned his friend; "it is to be a sort of
partnership. And so you think you would like to take to farming--eh,
Cedric?"

"Like it," returned Cedric, colouring with excitement, "it is the very
life I should choose. It would be just splendid for Harry and me to
work together! Oh, I know what you are going to say"--as Ma