-morrow she would be quite ready for all who would be so good as to
call on her.

I could only say I would do myself the pleasure; and then he still
waited a moment to say that his brother Arthur could not recover from
his dismay at his greeting to Miss Torwood.

"But," he said, "the boy's head was quite turned by the beauty of the
country. He had been raving all day about the new poet, Alfred
Tennyson, and I believe he thought he had walked into lotus-land."

"Nearer the dragon of the Hesperides, perhaps," said Fulk, laughing.
"Is he with you now?"

"No; he has gone back to Oxford. He is in his second year; and whether
he takes to medicine or to art is to be settled by common-sense or
genius."

"Oh, but if he has genius?" began Jaquetta eagerly.

"That's the question," said Mr. Cradock, laughing. "But I am hindering
you shamefully," and with that he took his leave, having quite
demolished our barriers.

And his wife was of the same nature--simple, blithe, and bonny--ready
to make friends in a moment; and though she must have known all about
us, never seeming to remember anything but that we were her nearest
lady neighbours.

Jaquetta, whose young friendships had been broken short off, because
the poor girls really did not know how to correspond with her under
present circumstances, took to Mrs. Cradock with eager enthusiasm, and
tripped across the park to her two or three times a week, and became
delightedly interested in all her doings, parochial or otherwise.

Dear Jaquey's happy nature had always been content; but when I saw how
exceedingly she enjoyed the variety, liveliness, and occupations
brought by the Cradocks, I felt that it had been scarcely kind to
seclude her to gratify my own sole pride; but then there had been
nobody like the Cradocks--to drop or be dropped.

The refreshment to Fulk was even greater. The having a man to converse
with, and break his mind against, one who would argue, and who really
cared for the true principles of politics, made an immense difference
to him. When after tea he said he would walk to the parsonage to see
how the debate had gone, and we knew we should not see him till
half-past ten, we could not but be glad; it must have been so much
pleasanter than playing at chess, listening to our old music, or
reading even the new books they lent us.

He brightened greatly that winter, and I ceased to fear that he was
getting a farmer's slouch. He looked as stately and