been almost less liked in the neighbourhood than the lord. Indeed,
no one in Dillsborough knew much about him, although Bragton Hall
was but four miles from the town, and the Mortons had possessed the
property and lived on it for the last three centuries. But there
had been extravagance, as will hereafter have to be told, and there
had been no continuous residence at Bragton since the death of old
Reginald Morton, who had been the best known and the best loved of
all the squires in Rufford, and had for many years been master of
the Rufford hounds. He had lived to a very great age, and, though
the great-grandfather of the present man, had not been dead above
twenty years. He was the man of whom the older inhabitants of
Dillsborough and the neighbourhood still thought and still spoke
when they gave vent to their feelings in favour of gentlemen. And
yet the old squire in his latter days had been able to do little or
nothing for them,--being sometimes backward as to the payment of
money he owed among them. But he had lived all his days at Bragton
Park, and his figure had been familiar to all eyes in the High
Street of Dillsborough and at the front entrance of the Bush.
People still spoke of old Mr. Reginald Morton as though his death
had been a sore loss to the neighbourhood.

And there were in the country round sundry yeomen, as they ought to
be called,--gentlemen-farmers as they now like to style
themselves,--men who owned some acres of land, and farmed these
acres themselves. Of these we may specially mention Mr. Lawrence
Twentyman, who was quite the gentleman-farmer. He possessed over
three hundred acres of land, on which his father had built an
excellent house. The present Mr. Twentyman, Lawrence Twentyman,
Esquire, as he was called by everybody, was by no means unpopular
in the neighbourhood. He not only rode well to hounds but paid