ean pair of heels. As
he got near the purlieus of the kitchen (where he was more at ease) he
heard his father calling for his mother, and again his guilty conscience
rose against him. "He has found all out now," it cried, "and he is going
to tell mamma--this time I am done for." But there was nothing in it;
his father only wanted the key of the cellaret. Then Ernest slunk off
into a coppice or spinney behind the Rectory paddock, and consoled
himself with a pipe of tobacco. Here in the wood with the summer sun
streaming through the trees and a book and his pipe the boy forgot his
cares and had an interval of that rest without which I verily believe his
life would have been insupportable.

Of course, Ernest was made to look for his lost property, and a reward
was offered for it, but it seemed he had wandered a good deal off the
path, thinking to find a lark's nest, more than once, and looking for a
watch and purse on Battersby piewipes was very like looking for a needle
in a bundle of hay: besides it might have been found and taken by some
tramp, or by a magpie of which there were many in the neighbourhood, so
that after a week or ten days the search was discontinued, and the
unpleasant fact had to be faced that Ernest must have another watch,
another knife, and a small sum of pocket money.

It was only right, however, that Ernest should pay half the cost of the
watch; this should be made easy for him, for it should be deducted from
his pocket money in half-yearly instalments extending over two, or even
it might be three years. In Ernest's own interests, then, as well as
those of his father and mother, it would be well that the watch should
cost as little as possible, so it was resolved to buy a second-hand one.
Nothing was to be said to Ernest, but it was to be bought, and laid upon
his plate as a surprise just before the holidays were over. Theobald
would have to go to the county town in a few days, and could then find
some second-hand watch which would answer sufficiently well. In the
course of time, therefore, Theobald went, furnished with a long list of
household commissions, among which was the purchase of a watch for
Ernest.

Those, as I have said, were always happy times, when Theobald was away
for a whole day certain; the boy was beginning to feel easy in his mind
as though God had heard his prayers, and he was not going to be found
out. Altogether the day had proved an unusually tranquil one, but, ala