at the castle there was scarce a day but an invitation came down
for Mr. Vickars and his wife to be present either at banquet or
entertainment. The boys were free to come and go as they chose,
and the earl's men-at-arms had orders to afford them all necessary
teaching in the use of weapons.

Mr. Vickars considered it his duty to accept the invitations of
his friend and patron, but he sorely grudged the time so abstracted
from his favourite books. It was, indeed, a relief to him when the
earl, whose love of profusion and luxury made serious inroads even
into the splendid possessions of the Veres, went up to court, and
peace and quietness reigned in the castle. The rector was fonder
of going to Kirby, where John, Geoffrey's eldest son, lived quietly
and soberly, his three younger brothers having, when mere boys,
embraced the profession of arms, placing themselves under the care
of the good soldier Sir William Brownie, who had served for many
years in the Low Countries. They occasionally returned home for
a time, and were pleased to take notice of the sons of their old
tutor, although Geoffrey was six years junior to Horace, the youngest
of the brothers.

The young Vickars had much time to themselves, much more, indeed,
than their mother considered to be good for them. After their
breakfast, which was finished by eight o'clock, their father took
them for an hour and heard the lessons they had prepared the day
before, and gave them instruction in the Latin tongue. Then they
were supposed to study till the bell rang for dinner at twelve; but
there was no one to see that they did so, for their father seldom
came outside his library door, and their mother was busy with her
domestic duties and in dispensing simples to the poor people, who,