him young and makes him laugh. She's getting her education and living her
home life at the same time, and that seems to me ideal. We shall probably
have to spare her later on to be married, so we may as well make the most
of her now while we've got her. It's the chief tragedy of parents that
the children grow up and go away. We'll enjoy our nest while we have our
one chick here. When the young ones are fledged, the old birds stop
singing."

[Illustration: MR. CASTLETON DID NOT LOOK AT ALL PLEASED]

Of the other girls who shared the car to Durracombe, Tattie Carew, whose
parents were in India had come to live with her aunt Miss Grant, in the
ivy-covered house at the top of the hill, while Nan and Lizzie Colville
were the daughters of the newly-appointed vicar. All six, therefore, were
fresh comers to the neighbourhood, and as yet had neither explored the
whole of its beauties nor learnt to understand its traditions. In both of
these respects Mavis and Merle, though non-residents, had the advantage
of them. Their friendship with Bevis Talland, the boy who, once the
village foundling, had turned out to be heir to the Chagmouth estate, had
given them an intimate acquaintance with the life of the place. Bevis had
shown them the haunts of the birds, and the best places for wild flowers,
had told them the local legends and the histories of the various worthies
of the parish. The little town indeed seemed strangely empty without him,
but at present he was away at school, and later would be going to
college, though eventually, when he came of age, he would probably take
up his residence in the old family home. The Warren, where Tallands had
lived for so many generations, had been let on a lease to Mr. Glyn
Williams, and the lawyers who managed the property had decided that this
arrangement should be continued during Bevis's minority; heavy death
duties and land-taxes would cripple the estate for some years, and it was