Colonel Thorndyke's Secret

e only addition being that Mr. Bastow was himself put into the box. The counsel for the prosecution said: "I am sorry to have to call y

wa

ften hear

ent to sleep unt

to suppose that othe

saw any

without seeing them. Please tel

ices," the clergyman said r

ome occasions heard the sound of horses' hoofs in

id in a low v

hatever of the character

se with him were companions with wh

their expression of indifference. The two highwaymen nodded to acquaintances they saw in the body of the court, smiled at various points in the evidence, and so conducted themselves that there were murmured exclamat

ce, leaves no doubt that you have for some time been in league with highwaymen, although not actually participating in their crime. The words overheard by Mr. Thorndyke show that you were prepared to hide their booty for them, and it is well for you that you were captured before this was done, and that no proceeds of other robberies were found in the house. The evidence of the Bow Street officers show that it had for some time been suspected that these

en. As they were leaving the dock Bastow turned, and in a clear voice said to

for this. I will pay off my debt

ow that in all my experience I ever saw such a hardened young villain. With highwaymen it is a point of honor to assume a gayety of demeanor on such occasions; bu

savings by means of forgery, and was so hopelessly bad that he himself thought with me that the only possible hope for him was to get him to enlist. I myself recommended the East India Company's service, thinking that he

likely that he will ever come back again-very few of them do; the hulks are not the most healthy places in the

ere he and the Squire had put up on their arrival in town the evening before, and here, o

and it is infinitely better that he should be across the sea where his conduct, when his term is over, can affect no one. The disgrace, such as it is, to his friends, is no greater in a long term than in a short one. Had he got off with four or five years' impris

e take the

, I can very well afford to despise. Now, if you will take my advice, you will drink a couple of glasses of good port, and then go to b

have the wine," th

must insist upon your drinking a couple of glasses with me. I want it almost as much as you do, for t

n an easy chair. The Squire poured out the wine, and handed him a glass. Mr. Bastow at first put it to his lips without glancing at it, bu

nd he is not far wrong," John Thorndyke

tion," Mr. Bastow agreed. "I have drunk nothing

ing himself from a plate on the table. "You have had nothing to eat today, and you want som

s not yet out, the Squire had a fire lighted in the room, and after the meal was over, and two steaming tumblers of punch were placed upon the table, h

t they are all over now, and that life will go more smoothly and easily with you. We had better leave the past alone f

or smile

unnatural-

s. What steps do you think that I ought to take to find a successor for you? It is most important to have a man who will be a real help in the parish, as you have been, would pull with one comfortably, and be a pleasant associate. I don't want too young a fellow, and I don't want too old a one. I h

n taking duty for me since I could not do it myself. I know that he is a hard working fellow, and he has a wife and a couple of children; his cu

he advantage of being short, which is a great thing. In the first place, it is good in itself, and in the second, specially important in a village congregation, where you know very well every woman present is fidgeting to get home to s

y pounds; it is solid and good, but as I have had it

Greg will find it difficult to furnish, and he might have to borrow the money, and the debt would

eased, when his old friend went up to bed, that he had succeeded in diverting hi

id, when they met at breakfa

o sleep as soon as my head touched the pillow, and did

g; we shall have a brisk drive back. I am very glad that I chan

surprise to him, for the Rector's intentions to resign had not been made public, and it was supposed in the village that he was only staying at the Squire's until this sad affair should be

ndyke," he said. "It would be a boon t

ying to keep the two children quiet there, having reti

ly, as she came into the room. "Mr. Thorndyke has b

pardon, sir, for my unmannerliness in

well together, and see a great deal of each other. I don't know whether you are aware, Mr. Greg, that the living is worth 200 pounds a year, besides which there is a paddock of about ten acres, which is sufficient for the keep of a horse and cow. The Rectory is a comfortable one, and I hav

n living in these lodgings since we first came here, and it will indeed ma

r be able to rel

d if I would look out for another curacy, as he wanted to have his son here with him. He spoke very kindly, and said that he should make no change until I could

and tell him that I have appointed you, and you can continue to officiate as you have done lately until you can be formally inducted as the Rector. Perhaps you would not mind going round to your Rector at once and

inted time he found that

; he congratulated me most warmly, and I can come up at o

are Rector than they have been while you have been assisting us. Long sermons may do for a town congregation, but in my opinion they are a very serious mistake in the case of a village one. By the way, I think it would be as well for you to get a servant here, and that before you go up. Mr. Bastow's servant was an old woman, and in a case like this I always thin

I cannot hear of one likely to suit us permanently, I will

village, and with a shilling or two from the parish she will manage comfortably. At any

ct order. To Mrs. Greg's relief she found that the old servant had already gone, the Squire having himself informed her that Mrs. Greg would bring her own maid with her. Mr. Bastow said that he would al

e village, and if she had gone away with a sense of grievance she might have created a good deal of ill feeling aga

hree years old, they went out into the garden; where the trees were laden with apples, pears, and plums.

d it should be a lesson to us, dear, to look very closely after the bo

un before Mr. Thorndyke came down, when by all accounts things had altogether gone to the b

perform service, he seldom left the house, and the boy no doubt grew up altogether wild. You know that I was in court on the second day of the examination, and the young fellow's insolence and bearing astonished

lt that he could not have been expected to stay; the month's experience that they had had of the new parson had cleared the way for him. He and his wife soon made themselv

the village we always keep a stock of soups and jellies, and Mrs. Cunningham is almoner i

t is marvelous to us coming in here and fin

s or something of that sort, and he was very favorably reported on as being handy in the garden, able to milk a cow, and so on. By the way, Mrs. Greg, I have taken the libert

gether, Mr. Thorndyke!

halfpenny a pint; it is better to do that than to give it. It is invaluable for the children; and I don't think in all England you see rosier and healthier youngsters than those in our sch

Mr. Bast

egin his studies at once; and, indeed, now that the worst is over and he has got rid of the load

met, and the children stopping to pull a forelock or bob a courtesy as of old, gradually cheered him up, and he soon got accustomed to the change, and would of an afternoon go down to the village and chat with the women, after he had ascertained that his successor had no ob

richer men than I am. I don't know that that would matter much, but it would give you expensive habits, and perhaps make you fonder of London life than I should care about. In the next place, you see, you would be at school when the shooting begins, and you are looking forward to carrying a gun next year. The same with hunting. You know

eover, there is nothing better for developing health and muscles than riding, and tramping over the fields with a gun on your shoulder; and, lastly, you must not forget, Mark, that one of my objects in making this arrangeme

little sport if I went away to school. Besides, I like Mr. Bastow very much, and I am qu

scipline, but I think it can be carried too far; at any rate, I hope you will be

in a week under Mr. Bastow's gentle tuition than he had done in a month under the vigorous d

range looking creature. Of course, in the daytime, when one sees him about in ordinary clothes, one d

but which means, he told me, garden, and there let it escape. Another time he caught a Thug, which means a sort of robber who kills his victims by strangling before robbing them. They are a sort of sect who regard strangling as a religious action, greatly favored by the bloodthirsty goddess they worship. He was in the act of fastening the twisted handkerchief, used for the purpose, round my brother'

t over all that, and now I would not lose him for anything; he seems to know instinctively what I want. He is excellent as a waiter and valet; I should feel almost lost without him now; and the clumping about of an English man servant would annoy me as much as his noiseless way of going about did at first. He has come to speak English very fairly. Of course, m

he village and the absence of want, his occupation, save for the Sunday duty, was a sinecure. Mr. Bastow was more happy and much brighter than he had been for many years. The occupation of teaching suited him, and he was able to make the work pleasant to his pupil as well as to himself; indeed, it occupied but a small portion of the day, the amount of learning considered necessary at the time not being extensive. A knowledge of Greek was thought quite superfluous for a country gentleman. Science was in its infancy, mathematics a subject only to be taken up by those who wanted to obtain a

drive perhaps some twenty miles with his great chum, Dick Chetwynd, for a long day's fishing, or to see a main of

reatly to him, and was his companion whenever he would allow her to be, fetched and carried for him, and stood almost on a level with his dogs in his estimation. Five years later, when Mark was eighteen, these relations changed somewhat. He now liked to have he

of running about like a wild thing," Mrs. Cunningham said, one day, as she and the

and I dare say walk and look as prim and demure as they do. I was watching them the other day when there was a party of them up here, and I thought the difference was all to her advantage. She looked a natural, healthy girl; they looked like a set of overdressed dolls, afraid to move or to talk loud, or to stretch their mouths when

t to the penal settlement formed on the east coast of Australia. This was intended to be fixed at Botany Bay, but it having been found that this bay was open and unsheltered, it was established at Sydney, although for many years the settlement retained in England the name of the original site. As the condition of the prisoners kept in the hulks was deplorable, the Squire had, throug

ent, they occasionally take place, and had he gained his liberty we should have had an anxious time of it until he was re-arrested, whereas out there there is nowhere to go to, no possibility of committing a crime. It is not there as it was in the American colony. Settlements may grow up in time, but at present there are no white men whatever settled in the district;