usage.'

'Sorry to hear that; but I'll bear your affliction in mind. Why,
you are all in a tremble, Uncle Benjy!'

''Tis because I am so gratified,' said the old man. 'I always get
all in a tremble when I am taken by surprise by a beloved relation.'

'Ah, that's it!' said the yeoman, bringing his hand down on the back
of his uncle's chair with a loud smack, at which Uncle Benjy
nervously sprang three inches from his seat and dropped into it
again. 'Ask your pardon for frightening ye, uncle. 'Tis how we do
in the army, and I forgot your nerves. You have scarcely expected
to see me, I dare say, but here I am.'

'I am glad to see ye. You are not going to stay long, perhaps?'

'Quite the contrary. I am going to stay ever so long!'

'O I see! I am so glad, dear Festus. Ever so long, did ye say?'

'Yes, EVER so long,' said the young gentleman, sitting on the slope
of the bureau and stretching out his legs as props. 'I am going to
make this quite my own home whenever I am off duty, as long as we
stay out. And after that, when the campaign is over in the autumn,
I shall come here, and live with you like your own son, and help
manage your land and your farm, you know, and make you a comfortable
old man.'

'Ah! How you do please me!' said the farmer, with a horrified