"Oh, yes!" he answered; "but I should have had a far better appetite for dinner, had I been able to find the fellows who had been so cruelly baiting her. However, they will not manage to escape me altogether, I'll warrant; but, as you know, I do not expect to remain here much longer, now that I have finished my course at the Grammar School. They will be for sending me to college if I do, and that I could never brook. But before I go, I must come and pay you a visit at Harwood Grange, Mistress Alethea." "We shall always be glad to see you," said the young lady, looking up with a bright glance at Jack's honest countenance. "Here comes my father to say the same." "Yes, indeed we shall, Jack," said Mr Harwood, who came up at that moment. "I may be able to give you some useful introductions, when I hear where you are going. I have many friends scattered about the country, north and south." "And you will not mind introducing me," asked Jack with kindling eye, "though I follow the calling of what Kate calls a poor, miserable drover?" "Oh, no, no!" answered the Squire, "not if you always show the spirit you did this afternoon, and that I am sure you will wherever you go, or whatever calling you follow." Here he took Jack's hand, and pressed it kindly in presence of the various people of fashion who were walking up and down the terrace. Mrs Deane observed the action, and seemed well pleased with the attention paid her younger son. Taking somewhat after herself, he was, it must be confessed, her favourite. The sun was now sinking over the distant hills, and as the mist began to rise from the river below, the parties on the terrace gradually dispersed, the Deane family and their friends returning to their mansion, where they assembled once more round their well-spread board, at eight o'clock precisely, the fashionable hour for supper. Jack, in better spirits than he had been in the afternoon, joined the family party. Songs were sung, and numerous stories told by Dr Nathaniel, Mr Pinkstone, and other acknowledged wits of the party. Ere ten o'clock had struck, the whole party retired to their chambers, our forefathers being of opinion that early to bed and early rising was far more conducive to health than the late hours adopted by the present generation. CHAPTER THREE. A POACHING EXPEDITION TO COLWICK PARK--JACK FORMS AN ACQUAINTANCE WHO LEADS HIM INTO DIFFICULTIES.