By Right of Purchase

y of Barrock-holme, one of his fellow guests beside him, and a gun under his arm. Looking in through the quadrangle, they sa

Leland's companion to the groom. "How

our, Mr. Terry,"

little uplifting of his brows

four miles, anyway, to the edge of Garberry moor," he

e promised to lend it Mr. James when he heard we had th

why is

uspicion of a smile fli

Mr. James forgot to let h

u any objections to walking on as far as the Dell, Leland? It wo

es stayed the high, vaulted roof of gold and crimson leaves. Looking out through the openings between, one could see the sweep of rolling champaign

for the credit of the country, I should like to explain that there are not very many English properties run on the same line

s of an hour's shooting

more value to me than it apparently is to Jimmy Denham. Besides, my stay here has cost me a good deal more than I

understand th

fact, I have had a fancy that you were a bona-f

looked astonished, though he remembered now severa

m, naturally, doesn't advertise Barrock-holme as a shooting hotel, but, though affairs are arranged more tastefully, it amounts to much the same thing. You share expenses of watching and turning d

untry? I had a notion that you were rather proud of yoursel

it with some of the things they do is a different matter; but you can take it as a rule that the less people have to congratulate themselves upon, the prouder they are. In fact, Jim

lectively, "if the girls qu

ranscombe Denham, or sisters of Jimmy. They show some trace of sense and temper, whilst you can't ruffle Jimmy

gestion of condescension that he surmised was unconscious. Indeed, this struck him as being what it should be. Though quite aware of his own value where men were concerned, he had seen very few women, and regarded them in general with a vague, uncomprehending respect. Furthermore, the girl's physical beauty, her pride a

the Denhams more or less, and it had hurt him to discover what he considered was the reality. For Jimmy and his father he had a tolerant contempt, and it was, in fact, only the presence of Carrie Denham that had kept him at Barrock-holme so long. He was sorry for her, and had a vague fancy that she might need a friend. There was a vein of chivalry in him, and he was also a just man. His sense of justice led him to play billiards period

e was, in some respects, a handsome man, though his eyes were of too pale a blue, and his thin face, in spite of its unmistakable stamp of refinement, lacked character. The room was in the old tower, ceiled with dark wood and sombrely panelled, with one long, nar

d, with a little whimsical smile. "Lancely has written me in his usual stand-and-deliver style again:-'I am now directed to inform you that, unless

it at last, and their mortgage covers most of the Dell, and the leys on Stapleton's

ir. In fact, as I had regretfully to admit, unless I can raise two hundred pounds in addition to it befo

ties and the other a spendthrift son. Indeed, they faced each other as comrades, one could almost have said confederates, for in spite of

I don't know at present where it is to come from. The other affair is more

o let those fellows have it would make things a little too plain to everybody. Besides, it'

re was a curious look in his pale bl

uple of thousand, with the plough-land in the bottom as security. He did it as a friend, and didn't worry much about his papers, while I'm not sure I remembered to mention Lan

in a good deal. They were unusually good trees. You sold

kind of sinking fund to meet the interest, and in due time extinguish the loan, in which case the question of the timber wou

ds it isn't there, to say nothing of what Lennox, who, it seems, has a claim on it as well, might do. Still, no doubt, you did what you could, sir, and I'm rather afraid it was one or t

t, Jimmy, as young men go, and we have hitherto, at least, always stood

ever liked that notion, sir. I think I've mentioned it. There

t were liberal. I pointed out a few of my difficulties to him, and he mentioned rather tastefully that he fancied they could be got over if he

lushed, though he was considered a rath

"I can't claim to be very particular, b

u any proposi

e, apparently lost in thought, which

nt that we have to face the circumstances, and I scarcely think Carrie will flinch when she understands the

Canad

tance by-and-bye, in his own country. If, as I suppose, you haven't given Aylmer a definite answer yet, I might suggest that you tell him he must ma

n for almost a minute,

ember that there is not very much time left. In the m

sgusted with himself as well as his father, and troubled with a very unusual sense of shame. There was courage of a kind in the Denhams, and they could, at least, hide their feelings very well. He inspired the res

most as deficient in estimable

ut. I think he is a little older than you are-and he is my father. Anyway,

you expec

e in your original policy. I have rather a fancy t

don't mind admitting that, seeing what it would probably come to, I have, as you surmise, had t