said the squire, apologetically. "But after all, he is not an
ass of the parish; he is a vagrant, and he ought to be pounded. But the
pound is in as bad a state as the stocks, thanks to your new-fashioned
doctrines."

"New-fashioned!" cried the parson, almost indignantly, for he had a
great disdain of new fashions. "They are as old as Christianity; nay,
as old as Paradise, which you will observe is derived from a Greek,
or rather a Persian word, and means something more than 'garden,'
corresponding" (pursued the parson, rather pedantically) "with the
Latin--vivarium,--namely, grove or park full of innocent dumb creatures.
Depend on it, donkeys were allowed to eat thistles there."

"Very possibly," said the squire, dryly. "But Hazeldeau, though a
very pretty village, is not Paradise. The stocks shall be mended
to-morrow,--ay, and the pound too, and the next donkey found trespassing
shall go into it, as sure as my name's Hazeldean."

"Then," said the parson, gravely, "I can only hope that the next parish
may not follow your example; or that you and I may never be caught
straying."

CHAPTER III.

Parson Dale and Squire Hazeldean parted company; the latter to inspect
his sheep, the former to visit some of his parishioners, including Lenny
Fairfield, whom the donkey had defrauded of his apple.

Lenny Fairfield was sure to be in the way, for his mother rented a
few acres of grass-land from the squire, and it was now hay-time. And
Leonard, commonly called Lenny, was an only son, and his mother a widow.
The cottage stood apart, and somewhat remote, in one of the many nooks
of the long, green village lane. And a thoroughly English cottage it
was, three centuries old at least; with walls of rubble let into oak
frames, and duly whitewashed every summer, a thatched roof, small panes
of glass, an old doorway raised from the ground by two steps. There was
about this little dwelling all the homely rustic elegance which
peasant life admits of; a honeysuckle was trained over the door; a few
flower-pots were placed on the window-sills; the small plot of ground
in front of the house was kept with great neatness, and even taste; some
large rough stones on either side the little path having been formed
into a sort of rockwork, with creepers that were now in flower; and the
potato-ground was screened from the eye by sweet peas and lupine. Simple
elegance, all this, it is true; but how well it speaks for peasant and
landlord, wh