afterward his intense depression, spoke volumes. Even Tom, her
friend and play fellow, seemed changed this evening, grown somehow
from a boy to a man; for there was a sternness about him which she
had never seen before, and which made the days of their childhood
seem far away. And yet it was not so very long ago that she and
Tom had been the most light-hearted and careless beings in the
world, and had imagined the chief interest of life to consist in
tending dormice, and tame rats, and silk worms! She wondered
whether they could ever feel free again, whether they could ever
enjoy their long Saturday afternoon rambles, or whether this weight
of care would always be upon them.

With a very heavy heart she prepared her lessons for the next day,
finding it hard to take much interest in Magna Charta and legal
enactments in the time of King John, when the legal enactments of
today were so much more mind-engrossing. Tom was sitting opposite
to her, writing letters for Raeburn. Once, notwithstanding his
grave looks, she hazarded a question."Tom," she said, shutting up
her "History of the English People," "Tom, what do you think will
happen?"

Tom looked across at her with angry yet sorrowful eyes.

"I think," he said, sternly, "that the chieftain will try to do the
work of ten men at once, and will pay off these debts or die in the
attempt."

The "chieftain" was a favorite name among the Raeburnites for their
leader, and there was a great deal of the clan feeling among them.
The majority of them were earnest, hard-working, thoughtful men,