more business was discussed by the Squire that afternoon. Indeed it
interested Mr. Quest, who was above all things a student of character,
to observe how wonderfully the old gentleman threw off his trouble. To
listen to him energetically arguing with the Rev. Mr. Jeffries as to
whether or no it would be proper, as had hitherto been the custom, to
devote the proceeds of the harvest festival collection (1 pound 18s.
3d. and a brass button) to the county hospital, or whether it should
be applied to the repair of the woodwork in the vestry, was under the
circumstances most instructive. The Rev. Mr. Jeffries, who suffered
severely from the condition of the vestry, at last gained his point by
triumphantly showing that no patient from Honham had been admitted to
the hospital for fifteen months, and that therefore the hospital had
no claim on this particular year, whereas the draught in the vestry
was enough to cut any clergyman in two.

"Well, well," said the old gentleman, "I will consent for this year,
and this year only. I have been churchwarden of this parish for
between forty and fifty years, and we have always given the harvest
festival collection to the hospital, and although under these
exceptional circumstances it may possibly be desirable to diverge from
that custom, I cannot and will not consent to such a thing in a
permanent way. So I shall write to the secretary and explain the
matter, and tell him that next year and in the future generally the
collection will be devoted to its original purpose."

"Great heavens!" ejaculated Mr. Quest to himself. "And the man must
know that in all human probability the place will be sold over his
head before he is a year older. I wonder if he puts it on or if he
deceives himself. I suppose he has lived here so long that he cannot
realise a condition of things under which he will cease to live here
and the place will belong to somebody else. Or perhaps he is only
brazening it out." And then he strolled away to the back of the house
and had a look at the condition of the outhouses, reflecting that some
of them would be sadly expensive to repair for whoever came into
possession here. After that he crossed the moat and walked through the
somewhat extensive plantations at the back of the house, wondering if
it would not be possible to get enough timber out of them, if one went
to work judiciously, to pay for putting the place in order. Presently
he came to a hedgerow where a row of ve