winch.'

'We don't know who invented the alphabet,' said he, half smiling,
and taking up his pipe.

'No, I dare say not, sir,' replied I, half offended; 'that's so
long ago.' Puff--puff--puff.

'But your father must be a notable man. I heard of him once
before; and it is not many a one fifty miles away whose fame
reaches Heathbridge.'

'My father is a notable man, sir. It is not me that says so; it
is Mr Holdsworth, and--and everybody.'

'He is right to stand up for his father,' said cousin Holman, as
if she were pleading for me.

I chafed inwardly, thinking that my father needed no one to stand
up for him. He was man sufficient for himself.

'Yes--he is right,' said the minister, placidly. 'Right, because
it comes from his heart--right, too, as I believe, in point of
fact. Else there is many a young cockerel that will stand upon a
dunghill and crow about his father, by way of making his own
plumage to shine. I should like to know thy father,' he went on,
turning straight to me, with a kindly, frank look in his eyes.

But I was vexed, and would take no notice. Presently, having
finished his pipe, he got up and left the room. Phillis put her