212 rate's day with the old horse 



for the seventh time this year, and there's not a 

 hen pheasant left on the estate." 



" Never mind, father, it won't matter to us. 

 Mr Preece will have some more down from Leaden- 

 hall Market or some such place next year ; and, 

 after all, they pay our rent for us, and we couldn't 

 live without them." 



" Pay the rent," grumbled the squire ; " I could 

 have done that myself, if I'd sold all the game, and 

 never given a head to man or woman on the place." 



" Then why didn't you, Dad ? " 



"Why didn't I, girl? Well then, it's just 

 because I suppose I've always belonged to c the 

 stupid party,' thank God for it." 



Poor old Lowry was a red-hot Tory, without any 

 Liberal instincts whatever, a fact which sufficiently 

 accounted for the mess he had made of his life. 

 And yet, somehow, the men who dared still to 

 touch their hats to this reprehensible old robber of 

 the public lands, did so with a smile in their 

 eyes more hearty than the smirk they gave to 

 his successor, Mr Preece. 



Since the first day we met her, a change has 

 come over Kate. The grey-blue eyes are just as 

 beautiful, but there is less sparkle in them ; the 

 lips are just as sweet, sweeter it may be, but the 

 dimple has gone. In the last few months she has 



