The Last of the Barons 87 



father and son had been already hard at work for 

 a couple of hours, stuffing an otter which had 

 been brought in the day before. 



Now the two came in ; the father keen-eyed 

 but sad-looking, the son a big bold lad, the hope 

 of an unlucky family. 



Mr. Lee sat down and opened one of the two 

 letters. As he read it, his face grew dark, and 

 his wife watched him anxiously. 



" Not an order, Stephen ? " she asked. 



"O yes, it's an order," he said bitterly; "a 

 very nice order. It's an order to pay up the rent, 

 or quit these premises. Twenty pounds, and 

 arrears five pounds ten. Where am I to get 

 twenty-five pounds just now, I should like to 

 know ? Look at the jobs we've had all this last 

 winter, barely enough to feed these little beggars, 

 let alone their clothes. A few miserable king- 

 fishers, and a white stoat or two, and such-like 

 vermin. This otter was a godsend, and I shall 



only get a guinea for it. There's Lord gone 



round the world, and no orders from him : and 

 young Rathbone killed by the Boers, and no one 

 with any money to spare, or this fellow wouldn't 



