d a-year!"

"But what has all this got to do with Frank's appointment, brother?"
asked Miss Pimpernell, with a sly chuckle of satisfaction. She always
said she disliked arguments; but, she was never better pleased than to
hear the vicar expressing his sentiments on topics of the day. He was
so earnest and delighted when he got a good listener--although, he was
rather shy of speaking before strangers.

"Dear me!"--exclaimed the vicar, rubbing his forehead vigorously.--"I
declare, I thought I was talking to Parole d'Honneur! You must forgive
me, Frank."

"Do you think you could manage to get him an appointment, my dear?"--
repeated my little old friend, bringing the vicar back to our main
question, now that she had unhorsed him from his Radical charger.

"Yes, certainly,"--replied the vicar, cordially,--"I do not see why I
should not. I'll speak to the bishop to-morrow, if I can catch him in.
He's got some good influence with the ministry; and, with mine in
conjunction, the two of us together ought to manage it, eh, Sally?"

"And how soon do you think, sir,"--I asked,--"would you be likely to
procure it for me? I've been a long time idle; and, I am, now, anxious,
you know, to make up for lost time."

Miss Pimpernell's words had thoroughly spurred me up. I wanted to set
to work for Min at once.

"How soon, eh, my boy?"--said he, kindly.--"You must have some special
object to be so anxious for employment! But, you need not be shy,
Frank; I can guess it, I think, without your telling me; and, I'm glad
of it. How soon, eh? Let me consider. If I see the bishop to-morrow,
as I very likely shall, we might arrange to get you a nomination in a
fortnight, I think; but, I'm certain, I can promise obtaining it within
a month at the outside. Will that do, Frank?"

"Oh, thank you, sir!"--I exclaimed, in grateful gladness,--"that is ever
so much sooner than I expected! I thought it might take months to get
me an appointment! I shall be ready for it, however, when it comes, all
the same, dear sir."

"You had better get crammed in the meantime, however, my boy," said the
vicar, reflectively.

"`Get crammed,' brother!"--said Miss Pimpernell, aghast at the term, of
which she clearly did not understand the slang sense. "Get crammed!
Why, what do you mean? Frank is thin, certainly, and he might be a
little stouter to advantage; but, has he got to be of a particular
weight, the same as the height of recruits is measu