nderstand you--good-by!"

Lenny's eyes glistened as the Parson shook him by the hand, and, not
trusting himself to speak, he walked off sturdily. The Parson wiped his
forehead, and sat himself down on the stile beside the Italian. The view
before them was lovely, and both enjoyed it (though not equally) enough to
be silent for some moments. On the other side the lane, seen between gaps
in the old oaks and chestnuts that hung over the moss-grown pales of
Hazeldean Park, rose gentle verdant slopes, dotted with sheep and herds of
deer; a stately avenue stretched far away to the left, and ended at the
right hand, within a few yards of a ha-ha that divided the park from a
level sward of table-land gay with shrubs and flower-plots, relieved by
the shade of two mighty cedars. And on this platform, only seen in part,
stood the squire's old-fashioned house, red brick, with stone mullions,
gable-ends, and quaint chimney-pots. On this side the road, immediately
facing the two gentlemen, cottage after cottage whitely emerged from the
curves in the lane, while, beyond, the ground declining gave an extensive
prospect of woods and cornfields, spires and farms. Behind, from a belt of
lilacs and evergreens, you caught a peep of the parsonage-house, backed by
woodlands, and a little noisy rill running in front. The birds were still
in the hedgerows, only as if from the very heart of the most distant
woods, there came now and then the mellow note of the cuckoo.

"Verily," said Mr. Dale softly, "my lot has fallen on a goodly heritage."

The Italian twitched his cloak over him, and sighed almost inaudibly.
Perhaps he thought of his own Summer Land, and felt that amidst all that
fresh verdure of the North, there was no heritage for the stranger.

However, before the Parson could notice the sigh or conjecture the cause,
Dr. Riccabocca's thin lips took an expression almost malignant.

"_Per Bacco!_" said he; "in every country I find that the rooks settle
where the trees are the finest. I am sure that, when Noah first landed on
Ararat, he must have found some gentleman in black already settled in the
pleasantest part of the mountain, and waiting for his tenth of the cattle
as they came out of the ark."

The Parson turned his meek eyes to the philosopher, and there was in them
something so deprecating rather than reproachful, that Dr. Riccabocca
turned away his face, and refilled his pipe. Dr. Riccabocca abhorred
priests; but though Parson D