"I am very thankful to see our boys take to each other; it is quite a
load off my mind that Aleck should be with you instead of being left at
school."

"Won't Aleck come too?" I asked my mother, when she summoned me to our
usual Bible-reading after breakfast.

"Not whilst his own mamma is here," was the answer; and I was obliged to
rest content. But the moment I had put away my Bible, I flew off in
search of him, eagerly explaining that we were to do what we liked for
the whole of the morning, and sketching out a plan for our amusement
such as I thought would be pleasant to him:--

"First, we must go over the whole house--you've only seen a little bit
of it yet--and the kitchen-garden and the stables, and then down the
Zig-zag to old George's, and we'll get him to go out with us in the
boat. It's smooth enough to sail the 'Fair Alice'--that's a little yacht
of mine that old George gave me."

Aleck's face brightened. "May you go out in a boat when you like?" he
asked, eagerly. "Oh, how _de_-light-ful!"

How we careered over the house that morning, visiting every nook and
corner of it, from the "leads" on the roof; accessible only by a ladder
and trap-door, to the most hidden repositories in the housekeeper's
domain! The servants good naturedly remarked I had gone crazy. Presently
I bade Aleck shut his eyes, and submit to my guidance blindfold, whilst
I led him to the only room he had not been in. We passed through several
passages, and then I went forward, tapped at a door, and finding I might
come in, fetched Aleck, still with eyes shut.

"There now, you may look," I exclaimed, watching in a satisfied manner
the astonishment with which he opened his eyes to find himself in the
study, and his confusion on seeing my father seated at the library table
near the window, surrounded by books and papers.

"Oh, uncle," he exclaimed, "I did not know I was in your room!"

"And are very much startled at finding yourself there," said my father,
finishing his sentence for him. "What shall we do with the culprit,
Willie? Prosecute him according to the utmost rigour of the law, and
sentence him to a year's imprisonment at Braycombe, with hard labour,
under Mr. Glengelly and old George!"

"I think that would be a very good punishment," I answered, "only I
should like it to be more than a year."

"See what a cruel fellow your cousin is," said my father, getting up
from his chair, and proceeding to take Aleck round the room, sh