flew still further."--_The
Ugly Duckling_.

Whatever changes and alterations might take place in the outside world,
Brenlands seemed always to remain the same. Coming there again and
again for their August holidays, the children grew to think of it as a
place blessed with eternal summer, where the flowers and green leaves
never faded from one year's end to another, and such a thing as a cold,
foggy winter day, with the moisture dripping from the trees, and the
slush of slowly melting snow upon the ground, was a thing which could
never have been possible, even in the memory of the oldest inhabitant.
Better still, the welcome which greeted them on their arrival was
always as warm as on previous occasions, and never fell one single
degree during the whole of the visit.

In spite of all this, on that glad day when Queen Mab's court gathered
once more round her cosy tea-table, Jack was not in his usual spirits,
but appeared silent and depressed. The result of Mr. Westford's letter
to his father had been a reply to the effect that, as he seemed
determined to waste his opportunities at school, it would be decidedly
the best thing for him to come home and find some more profitable
employment for his time.

When tea was over he strolled out into the garden, and wandered moodily
up and down the trim, box-bordered paths. To realize that one has done
with school life for ever, that the book, as it were, is closed, and
the familiar pages only to be turned again in memory, is enough to make
any boy thoughtful; but it was not this exactly that weighed upon
Jack's mind. He had grown to love Queen Mab and his cousins; the
thought of being different from them became distasteful; and he had
entertained some vague notion of turning over a new leaf, and becoming
a respectable member of society. Now all his half-formed resolutions
had come to the ground like a house of cards, and he was ending up
worse than he had begun.

He was standing staring gloomily at the particular pear-tree which
marked the scene of his and Valentine's first encounter with Joe
Crouch, when his aunt came out and joined him.

"Well, Jack, and so you've left school for good?"

She made no mention of the Melchester fair incident, though Jack
himself had sent her all particulars. He wished she would lecture him,
for somehow her forbearance in not referring to the subject was worse
than a dozen reproofs.

"Yes, aunt, they've thrown me out at last!"

"It