a supply of soup,
or a gill of brandy at Netherstock.

Among those of his own class it was often a matter of wonder how
James Stansfield made both ends meet. The family had, for two or
three generations, been of a similar temperament to that of the
present holder; men who spent their money freely, and were sure to
be present whenever there was a horse race, or a main of cocks to
be fought, or a prizefight to come off, within a day's ride of
Netherstock. Gradually, farm after farm had been parted with; and
the estate now was smaller, by half, than it had been at the
beginning of the century.

James Stansfield had, however, done nothing further to diminish it.
He had a large family, but they could hardly be said to be an
expensive one, seeing that little was spent upon the fashion of
their clothes; and beyond the fact that the curate in charge of the
little church in the village of Netherstock came over, every
morning for two or three hours, to give the boys and girls the
elements of education, they went very much their own way. Mrs.
Stansfield had died, five years before this. Polly, the eldest
girl, aged twenty, acted as mistress of the house. Next to her, at
intervals of little more than a year, came Ralph and John; two
strongly built young fellows, both fearless riders and good at all
rustic games. What supervision the farm work got was given by them.

Patsey, the second girl, was generally admitted to be the flower of
the Stansfields. She was bright, pretty, and good tempered. She was
in charge of the dairy, and the Netherstock butter was famous
through the country round, and always fetched top prices at the
market. The youngest of the family was Leigh, who was now fourteen.
He was less heavily built than his brothers, but their tutor
declared that he was the quickest and most intelligent of his
pupils; and that, if he had but a chance, he would turn out a fine
young fellow.

The boys were all fond of boating and sailing, which was natural
enough, as the sea washed two sides of the estate. They had two
boats. One of these lay hauled up on the sands, a mile to the east
of the entrance to the harbour. She was a good sea boat and, when
work was slack about the place, which indeed was the normal state
of things, they would often sail to Weymouth to the west, or
eastward to Yarmouth or Lymington, sometimes even to Portsmouth.
The other boat, which was also large, but of very shallow draught
of water, lay inside the