months."

"Is there anything that I can do for you while you are away,
Mallett?" Sir John Greendale asked, as they lingered for a moment
after the other gentlemen had gone off to join the ladies.

"Nothing that I know of, thank you. Norton will see that everything
goes on as usual. My father never interfered with him in the
general management of the estate, and had the greatest confidence
in him. I have known him since I was a child, and have always liked
him, so I can go away assured that things will go on as usual. If I
go down, the estate goes, as you know, to a distant cousin whom I
have never seen.

"As to other matters, I have but little to arrange. I have made a
will, so that I shall have nothing to trouble me on that score.
Tranton came over with it this morning from Stroud, and I signed
it."

"That is right, lad; we all hope most sincerely that there will be
no occasion for its provisions to be carried out, but it is always
best that a man should get these things off his mind. Are you going
to say goodbye to us tonight?"

"I shall do it as a precautionary measure, Sir John, but I expect
that when I get the summons I shall have time to drive over here.
My horse will do the distance in five and twenty minutes, and
unless a telegram comes within an hour of the night mail passing
through Stroud, I shall be able to manage it. I saw everything
packed up before I left, and my man will see that everything,