being a wally, you must insense me into that, for I don't
know anything about it. If it's anything to do with making beds or
puddings, I have never had no knowledge of anything of the sort."

Frank was highly entertained at the poor boy's perplexity.

"Oh, never fear, Jacob; where there's a will there's a way--and I see
you've got the will. I'll trust you to learn your gardening from Mr
Oliphant's man at `The Rocks.' You must go and get him to give you a
lesson or two; and if the seeds should not come up at first, I must take
it for granted that you've sown them wrong side upwards. As for the
riding, I'll undertake myself to make you a good horseman in a very
little time. So there's only one thing left, and that's the valet. You
needn't be afraid of it; it's nothing whatever to do with making beds or
puddings--that's all in Mrs Watson's department. What I mean by valet
is a person who will just wait upon me, as you waited on Captain
Merryweather on board ship."

"Oh, is that it!" cried Jacob, greatly relieved; "then I can manage it
gradely, I haven't a doubt."

And he did manage it gradely. Never was there a more willing learner or
trustworthy servant--his was the service of love; and every day bound
him more and more firmly to his young master with the cords of devoted
affection. Frank returned the attachment with all the natural warmth of
his character. He delighted in the rough openness, which never
degenerated into rudeness or disrespect; for Jacob, while free and
unconstrained in his manner, instinctively knew his place and kept it.
There was also a raciness and good sense in his observations, which made
Frank find in him a pleasant companion in their many wanderings, both on
horse and on foot. Frank was always a welcome guest at "The Rocks,"
where he learned to value and reverence Abraham Oliphant, and to feel a
hearty liking for his sons and daughters. But his heart was over the
water, and he felt that he could never settle alone and without Mary in
that far-off land. He often wrote to his mother, and also to Mary. To
the latter he expressed himself full of hope that he should be able to
return home before many years were passed, and claim her for his own;
but he never alluded to the cause of his temporary banishment, nor did
he reply to the questions which she put to him on the subject of total
abstinence, except by saying briefly that she might trust him, and need
not fear.

"Jacob," he said