or
creaking as could reasonably be expected. Then there came, in due time,
the children: first, a little girl, the object of her mother's
passionate love, and as dear to her father as the mistake of her not
having been a boy would allow her to be; then, after an interval of
three years, came a son.

Now it so happened that at the time of this son's birth there was
residing as a guest at the Manor-house a middle-aged gentleman reputed
to be very rich. His name was Amos Sutterby. Mr Huntingdon had met
him abroad in the second year after his marriage when taking a tour in
Switzerland with his wife. Mr Sutterby was an old bachelor, rather
bluff in his manners, but evidently in easy circumstances. The
Huntingdons and himself had met on the Rigi, and the squire had taken to
him at once--in a great measure, it may be, because Mr Amos was a good
listener, and was very ready to ask Mr Huntingdon's opinion and advice.
So the squire gave his new acquaintance a general invitation to
Flixworth Manor, which the other cordially accepted: and in a little
while this acquaintanceship ripened into a steady friendship, though by
no means entirely to the satisfaction of Mrs Huntingdon. The result,
however, was that Mr Sutterby spent several weeks of every year, at the
close of the summer and beginning of the autumn, at the Manor, and was
the constant companion of the squire in his field-sports. Mr
Huntingdon had taken care to satisfy himself that his new friend, though
somewhat of an oddity, was a man of substance. True, he was only living
in bachelor style, and possessed no landed property; but then he was
able at all times to command ready money, and was reputed by persons who
had long known him to be the holder of a large amount in the funds, an
impression which seemed to be justified by some elegant and costly
presents of which Mr Sutterby begged his friend's acceptance, as a
token of his esteem and a mark of his appreciation of that kind
hospitality which, as he said, an eccentric old bachelor living in
lodgings in London was unable to return in kind.

Now it was, as has been said, during a visit of Mr Sutterby to
Flixworth Manor that a son and heir was given to the Huntingdons. Of
course there were great rejoicings, and no one seemed more glad than Mr
Sutterby; and when he was asked if he would stand godfather to the
child, he declared that nothing could please him more. So the
christening day was fixed, and now the questi