he was quite a small boy punishment only had that effect with
him. He will come back tonight probably half drunk, and certainly
furious at my having ventured to lay the case before you."

"You must lock the doors and bar the windows."

"I did that when he first took to being out at night, but he always
managed to get in somehow."

"Well, it must be all put a stop to, Bastow; and I will come back
With you this evening, and if this young rascal breaks into the
house I will have him down at Reigate tomorrow on the charge of
house breaking; or, at any rate, I will threaten to do so if he
does not give a promise that he will in future keep away from you
altogether."

"I shall be glad, at any rate, if you will come down, Squire, for,
to say the truth, I feel uneasy as to the steps he may take in his
fury at our conversation just now."

John Thorndyke took down from a wall a heavy hunting whip, as he
went out with the parson at nine o'clock. He had in vain endeavored
to cheer his old friend as they sat over their steaming glasses of
Jamaica. The parson had never been a strong man; he was of a kindly
disposition, and an unwearied worker when there was an opportunity
for work, but he had always shrunk from unpleasantness, and was
ready to yield rather than bring about trouble. He had for a long
time suffered in silence, and had not the Squire himself approached
the subject of his son's delinquencies, he would have never opened
his mouth about it. Now, however, that he had done so, and the