s bevy of young women, and it was a simple fact that when,
meditating his sermon one day in the North Meadow, he flopped into their
midst and his son insisted on introducing him to the boarders and to
Miss Letitia, the poor man went home to bed and left the pulpit next
Sunday to an amateur exhorter. His plan of campaign was to arrive on
the opposite side of the terrace about a quarter to three, and, as the
hour drew near, reconnoitre the door from behind a clump of bushes at
the foot of the garden. Nestie usually made his appearance with a
bodyguard of maidens, who kissed him shamelessly, and then, catching
sight of the anxious face peeping through the laburnums, he would dash
down the walk and, giving his slaves a last wave, disappear round the
corner. The minister used to take a hasty survey lest they should become
a sport to the barbarians in a land where for a father to kiss his boy
was synonymous with mental incapacity, and then--it was a cat of a girl
who oversaw the meeting--they hugged one another for the space of a
whole minute, in which time it is wonderful what can be done if your
heart is in it and your hat is allowed to go without care. Had a
Seminary boy seen the sight--but the savages were caged at that
hour--his feet would have been glued to the ground with amazement, and
he had gone away full of silent gratitude that Providence had cast his
lot north of the Tweed; but of course he had not reckoned that the
father and son had been separated for, say, six whole hours--or
almost--and it was necessary to re-establish relations. When this had
been done satisfactorily the two crossed a wooden bridge into the Meadow
arm-in-arm--Mr. Molyneux unconsciously wearing his hat with a rakish air
on the side of his head. Between this hour and sunset was their
pleasure in the summer time, and the things they did were varied and
remarkable. Sometimes they would disappear into the woods above
Muirtown, and return home very dirty, very tired, very happy, laden with
wild flowers and dank, earthy roots, which they planted in their tiny
garden and watered together with tender solicitude. Other times they
played what was supposed to be golf over a course of their own selection
and creation at the top of the Meadow, and if by any chance the minister
got a ball into a hole, then Nestie danced for a space and the minister
apologised for his insolent success. Times there were--warm, summer
days--when the minister would bring a book