h, Sir; I must have five pounds off. It ought to be ten,
by right. Cousin Joe has taken all out, and put nought in."

"John o' the Smithies, you astonish me. I have strong reason for
believing that the rent is far too low. I have no instructions to reduce
it."

"Then I must try for another farm, Sir. I can have one of better land,
under Sir Walter; only I seemed to hold on to the old place; and my
Sally likes to be under the old ladies."

"Old ladies! Jack, what are you come to? Beautiful ladies in the prime
of life--but perhaps they would be old in India. I fear that you have
not learned much behavior. But at any rate you ought to know your own
mind. Is it your intention to refuse so kind an offer (which was only
made for your father's sake, and to please your faithful Sally) simply
because another of your family has not been honest in his farming?"

"I never have took it in that way before," the steady old soldier
answered, showing that rare phenomenon, the dawn of a new opinion upon
a stubborn face. "Give me a bit to turn it over in my mind, Sir. Lawyers
be so quick, and so nimble, and all-cornered."

"Turn it over fifty times, Master Smithies. We have no wish to force the
farm upon you. Take a pinch of snuff, to help your sense of justice. Or
if you would like a pipe, go and have it in my kitchen. And if you are
hungry, cook will give you eggs and bacon."

"No, Sir; I am very much obliged to you. I never make much o' my
thinking. I go by what the Lord sends right inside o' me, whenever I
have decent folk to deal with. And spite of your cloth, Sir, you have a
honest look."

"You deserve another pinch of snuff for that. Master Smithies, you have
a gift of putting hard things softly. But this is not business. Is your
mind made up?"

"Yes, Sir. I will take the farm, at full rent, if the covenants are to
my liking. They must be on both sides--both sides, mind you."

Mr. Jellicorse smiled as he began to read the draft prepared from a very
ancient form which was firmly established on the Scargate Hall estates.
The covenants, as usual, were all upon one side, the lessee being bound
to a multitude of things, and the lessor to little more than acceptance
of the rent. But such a result is in the nature of the case. Yet Jack
o' the Smithies was not well content. In him true Yorkshire stubbornness
was multiplied by the dogged tenacity of a British soldier, and the
aggregate raised to an unknown power by the efforts of