hild, and of an affectionate nature,
"That he loved pretty songs, and would try and learn anything the
gentleman would tell him." That day he so pleased the gentlemen by his
talk, that they had him to dine with them at the inn, and encouraged him
in his prattle; and Monsieur Blaise, with whom he rode and dined the day
before, waited upon him now.

"'Tis well, 'tis well!" said Blaise, that night (in his own language) when
they lay again at an inn. "We are a little lord here; we are a little lord
now: we shall see what we are when we come to Castlewood where my lady
is."

"When shall we come to Castlewood, Monsieur Blaise?" says Harry.

"_Parbleu!_ my lord does not press himself." Blaise says, with a grin;
and, indeed, it seemed as if his lordship was not in a great hurry, for he
spent three days on that journey, which Harry Esmond hath often since
ridden in a dozen hours. For the last two of the days, Harry rode with the
priest, who was so kind to him, that the child had grown to be quite fond
and familiar with him by the journey's end, and had scarce a thought in
his little heart which by that time he had not confided to his new friend.

At length on the third day, at evening, they came to a village standing on
a green with elms round it, very pretty to look at; and the people there
all took off their hats, and made curtsies to my lord viscount, who bowed
to them all languidly; and there was one portly person that wore a cassock
and a broad-leafed hat, who bowed lower than any one--and with this one
both my lord and Mr. Holt had a few words. "This, Harry, is Castlewood
church," says Mr. Holt, "and this is the pillar thereof, learned Doctor
Tusher. Take off your hat, sirrah, and salute Doctor Tusher."

"Come up to supper, doctor," says my lord; at which the doctor made
another low bow, and the party moved on towards a grand house that was
before them, with many grey towers, and vanes on them, and windows flaming
in the sunshine; and a great army of rooks, wheeling over their heads,
made for the woods behind the house, as Harry saw; and Mr. Holt told him
that they lived at Castlewood too.

They came to the house, and passed under an arch into a courtyard, with a
fountain in the centre, where many men came and held my lord's stirrup as
he descended, and paid great respect to Mr. Holt likewise. And the child
thought that the servants looked at him curiously, and smiled to one
another--and he recalled what Blaise had sa