, he thinks himself as good as if
he owns a thousand."

"All well-born men, Julius, all of them; are they not, Charlotte? Eh?
What?"

"So well born," answered Charlotte warmly, "that King James the First
set up a claim to all these small estates, on the plea that their owners
had never served a feudal lord, and were, therefore, tenants of the
crown. But the large statesmen went with the small ones. They led them
in a body to a heath between Kendal and Stavely, and there over two
thousand men swore, 'that as they had their lands by the sword, they
would keep them by the same.' So you see, Julius, they were gentlemen
before the feudal system existed; they never put a finger under its
authority, and they have long survived its fall."

"Well, for all that, they make poor servants."

"There's men that want Indian ryots or negro slaves to do their turn. I
want free men at Sandal-Side as long as I am squire of that name."

"They missed you sorely in the fields, father. It was not shearing-time,
nor hay-time, nor harvest-time to any one in Sandal this year. But you
will stand in your meadows again--God grant it!--next summer. And then
how the men will work! And what shouting there will be at the sight of
you! And what a harvest-home we shall have!"

And he caught her enthusiasm, and stood up to try his feet, and felt
sure that he walked stronger, and would soon be down-stairs once more.
And Julius, whose eyes love did not blind, felt a little scorn for those
who could not see such evident decay and dissolution. "It is really
criminal," he said to Sophia, "to encourage hopes so palpably false."
For Julius, like all selfish persons, could perceive only one side of a
question, the side that touched his own side. It never entered his mind
that the squire was trying to cheer and encourage his wife and daughter,
and was privately quite aware of his own condition. Sandal had not told
him that he had received "the token," the secret message which every
soul receives when the King desires his presence. He had never heard
those solemn conversations which followed the reading of "The Evening
Service," when the rector knelt by the side of his old friend, and they
two talked with Death as with a companion. So, though Julius meddled
much with Sandal affairs, there was a life there into which he never
entered.

One evening in October, Charlotte was walking with Stephen. They had
been to look at the new building, for every inch of prog