non-appearance, and of persuading himself that
they must soon return, he bent his steps towards home, intending to
finish the task which the sudden recollection of his contract had
interrupted, and then to sally forth once more to seek his fortune for
the day.

When he came to the corner of the court in which he lived, lo and
behold there was the pony again! Yes, there he was, looking more
obstinate than ever; and alone in the chaise, keeping a steady watch
upon his every wink, sat Mr Abel, who, lifting up his eyes by chance
and seeing Kit pass by, nodded to him as though he would have nodded
his head off.

Kit wondered to see the pony again, so near his own home too, but it
never occurred to him for what purpose the pony might have come there,
or where the old lady and the old gentleman had gone, until he lifted
the latch of the door, and walking in, found them seated in the room in
conversation with his mother, at which unexpected sight he pulled off
his hat and made his best bow in some confusion.

'We are here before you, you see, Christopher,' said Mr Garland smiling.

'Yes, sir,' said Kit; and as he said it, he looked towards his mother
for an explanation of the visit.

'The gentleman's been kind enough, my dear,' said she, in reply to this
mute interrogation, 'to ask me whether you were in a good place, or in
any place at all, and when I told him no, you were not in any, he was
so good as to say that--'

'--That we wanted a good lad in our house,' said the old gentleman and
the old lady both together, 'and that perhaps we might think of it, if
we found everything as we would wish it to be.'

As this thinking of it, plainly meant the thinking of engaging Kit, he
immediately partook of his mother's anxiety and fell into a great
flutter; for the little old couple were very methodical and cautious,
and asked so many questions that he began to be afraid there was no
chance of his success.

'You see, my good woman,' said Mrs Garland to Kit's mother, 'that it's
necessary to be very careful and particular in such a matter as this,
for we're only three in family, and are very quiet regular folks, and
it would be a sad thing if we made any kind of mistake, and found
things different from what we hoped and expected.'

To this, Kit's mother replied, that certainly it was quite true, and
quite right, and quite proper, and Heaven forbid that she should
shrink, or have cause to shrink, from any inquiry into her char