asure the time for him. As often as not, he carried a book in his
hand, into which he would glance, then shut it up, and repeat the rest
of the ode from memory. He had most of Horace by heart, and had got into
the habit of connecting this particular walk with certain odes which he
repeated duly, at the same time noting the condition of his flowers, and
stooping now and again to pick any that were withered or overblown. On
wet days, such was the power of habit over him, he rose from his chair
at the same hour, and paced his study for the same length of time,
pausing now and then to straighten some book in the bookcase, or
alter the position of the two brass crucifixes standing upon cairns of
serpentine stone upon the mantelpiece. His children had a great respect
for him, credited him with far more learning than he actually possessed,
and saw that his habits were not interfered with, if possible. Like most
people who do things methodically, the Rector himself had more
strength of purpose and power of self-sacrifice than of intellect or of
originality. On cold and windy nights he rode off to visit sick people,
who might need him, without a murmur; and by virtue of doing dull duties
punctually, he was much employed upon committees and local Boards and
Councils; and at this period of his life (he was sixty-eight) he was
beginning to be commiserated by tender old ladies for the extreme
leanness of his person, which, they said, was worn out upon the roads
when it should have been resting before a comfortable fire. His elder
daughter, Elizabeth, lived with him and managed the house, and already
much resembled him in dry sincerity and methodical habit of mind; of the
two sons one, Richard, was an estate agent, the other, Christopher, was
reading for the Bar. At Christmas, naturally, they met together; and for
a month past the arrangement of the Christmas week had been much in
the mind of mistress and maid, who prided themselves every year more
confidently upon the excellence of their equipment. The late Mrs.
Datchet had left an excellent cupboard of linen, to which Elizabeth had
succeeded at the age of nineteen, when her mother died, and the charge
of the family rested upon the shoulders of the eldest daughter. She kept
a fine flock of yellow chickens, sketched a little, certain rose-trees
in the garden were committed specially to her care; and what with the
care of the house, the care of the chickens, and the care of the
poor, sh