laugh. "Poverty and wandering I could bear; peril is what any brave
man naturally seeks; the acres that have been ours for centuries
could not go in a better cause; but to hear of a rascal such as that
in my father's place is enough to drive one mad with rage! Come,
what has he been doing? How has he used the poor people?"

"He turned out old Davy and Madge at once from keeping the house, but
Mr. Enderby took them in, and gave them a cottage."

"I wonder what unlucky fate possessed that Enderby to take the wrong
side! Well?"

"He could not tell us much of the place, for he cannot endure Master
Priggins, and Master Sylvester laughs at his Puritanical manner; but
he says--O Edmund--that the fish-ponds are filled up--those dear old
fish-ponds where the water-lilies used to blow, and you once pulled
me out of the water."

"Ay, ay! we shall not know it again if ever our turn comes, and we
enjoy our own again. But it is of no use to think about such
matters."

"No; we must be thankful that we have a home at all, and are not like
so many, who are actually come to beggary, like poor Mrs. Forde. You
remember her, our old clergyman's widow. He died on board ship, and
she was sent for by her cousin, who promised her a home; but she had
no money, and was forced to walk all the way, with her two little
boys, getting a lodging at night from any loyal family who would
shelter her for the love of heaven. My mother wept when she saw how
sadly she was changed; we kept her with us a week to rest her, and