ake the experiment, for I
shall be with you; and, dear as Dashwood is, it is _so_ dull
without papa and mamma--I can hardly bear to go into the
Priory now they are away. I seem to want Freddy's baby-voice
in the nursery; and sober Neville and Mary are quite a part
of home--how long it seems since I saw them! Well, I hope I
shall come to you at Easter. Do you not wish it were here?
I had a nice letter from mamma yesterday--she was at Florence
when she wrote, and is getting quite strong, and so is little
Mary. I have now no more time; mamma said papa had written
to you, or I would have told you all the news. I wanted to
tell you very much how our pigeons are, and the rabbits, and
Mary's hen, which I shall give in Mrs. Colthrop's care when
I leave Dashwood. But good bye, in a great hurry. With much
love, I remain your very affectionate brother,

"LOUIS FRANCIS MORTIMER.

"P.S. Do you remember cousin Vernon's laughing at
our embrace at Heronhurst? I wonder when I shall have
another--I am longing so to see you."

It would not concern my readers much were I to describe the precise
locality of the renowned Dr. Wilkinson's establishment for young
gentlemen--suffice it to say, that somewhere near Durdham Down,
within a short walk of Clifton, stood Ashfield House, a large
rambling building, part of which looked gray and timeworn when
compared with the modern school-room, and sundry dormitories, that
had been added at different periods as the school grew out of its
original domains. Attached to the house was a considerable extent
of park land, which was constituted the general play-ground.

At the time of which I am writing, Dr. Wilkinson's school consisted
of nearly eighty pupils, all of whom were boarders, and who were
sent from different parts of the kingdom; for the doctor's fame, as
an excellent man, and what, in the eyes of some was even a greater
recommendation, as a first-rate classical scholar, was spread far and
wide. At the door of this house, one fine April day, Louis presented
himself; and, after descending from the vehicle which brought him from
Bristol, followed the servant into the doctor's dining-room, where we
will leave him in solitary grandeur, or, more correctly speaking,
in agitating expectation, while we take a peep at the room on the
opposite side of the hall. In this, Dr. Wilkinson was giving audience
to a gentleman who had brought bac