emory had carried back her father into the past, making
him already forget the point at issue.

"What? Oh, dear me, no!" said the vicar, recalled to the present.
"I'll go myself."

"But your sermon, papa?"

"It's just finished, and I can complete what has to be added when I come
back. No--yes, I'll go; besides, now, I recollect, I have to call at
Job Trotter's to try and get him to come to church to-morrow. Yes, I'll
go myself."

So saying, the vicar put on the hat Conny handed to him, for she had to
look after him very carefully in this respect, as he would sometimes,
when in a thinking fit, go out without any covering on his head at all!

Then, taking his stick, which the thoughtful Conny likewise got out of
the rack in the hall, he went out of the front door and over the lawn,
through the little gate beyond. He then turned into the lane that led
across the downs to the village, Miss Conny having suggested this as the
wisest direction in which to look for Teddy, from the remembrance of
something the young scapegrace had casually dropped in conversation when
at dinner.

As he walked along the curving lane, the air was sweet with the scent of
dry clover and the numerous wild flowers that twined amongst the
blackberry bushes of the hedgerows. Insects also buzzed about, creating
a humming music of their own, while flocks of starlings startled by his
approach flew over the field next him to the one further on, exhibiting
their speckled plumage as they fluttered overhead, and the whistle of
the blackbird and coo of the ring-dove could be heard in the distance.

But the vicar was thinking of none of these things.

Conny's words about Teddy not minding Joe the gardener, or anybody else
indeed, had awakened his mind to the consciousness that he had not given
proper consideration to the boy's mental training.

Teddy's education certainly was not neglected, for he repeated his
lessons regularly to his father and displayed the most promising signs
of advancement; but, lessons ended, he was left entirely to the
servants. The vicar reflected, that this ought not to be permitted with
a child at an age when impressions of right and wrong are so easily
made, never to be effaced in after life, once the budding character is
formed.

He would correct this error, the vicar determined; in future he would
see after him more personally!

Just as he arrived at this sound conclusion the vicar reached the bend
of the lane wh