fellow will get into more trouble if
he doesn't mend his manners."

Lord Reginald, who had just returned with Voules from a ride, was
standing in front of the house when the groom appeared, leading the dog.

"I thought I ordered you to take that dog to Farmer Hargrave?" exclaimed
the midshipman.

"So I did, my lord, but Farmer Hargrave won't have him, and says he
doesn't want any gifts from your lordship."

"Impudent fellow!" observed Voules. "The father must be as great a
barbarian as that precious son of his."

"Did you give him my message properly?" asked Lord Reginald.

"Yes, my lord, word for word, and I advised Farmer Hargrave to take the
dog, but he would not on any account."

"Then his daughter must go without the animal. I sent it to her, not to
him," said Lord Reginald, turning to Voules. "This sort of thing is
really provoking; the people about here are next door to savages. I was
rather inclined to pity the old Hargraves on account of their blind
daughter, but I shall persuade my father to do as Gooch advises. His
house and barns are a great eyesore from the dining-room windows, and we
shall be able to add several acres to the park if he could be removed."

"Whether he is right or no, he ought, for the sake of pleasing the
marquis, to be ready to give up his farm," said Voules, "and if he won't
do so of his own accord, he should be compelled. I have no idea of the
commonalty venturing to set themselves up against the aristocracy in the
way they have done since the French Revolution."

Lord Reginald had been induced by a right motive to send the dog, and
the refusal of the farmer to receive it again raised his angry feelings
against Dick. "If I come across the young fellow, I'll punish him for
his own and his father's impertinence!" he exclaimed.

The incident, slight as it may appear, prevented him for some days
enjoying, as he might otherwise have done, the pleasures of home. Lady
Elverston had fulfilled her promise of speaking to the marquis.

"I would not, of course, act unjustly towards Hargrave," he answered;
"but Gooch, who has consulted the lawyer, tells me that I have a perfect
right to turn him out; besides which I have offered him an ample sum to
go, but he has refused to receive the compensation, and insists on
standing up for what he calls his rights. I, of course, cannot be
thwarted by a man at my own gates, and have given authority to Gooch to
proceed as he thinks necessar