Sidney had arranged that a friendly farmer near should take over the bulk of the crops and superintend all necessary farming operations for the time. This was highly resented by Frank Edge, the head man, but he had been absent so much from his work that he had little cause for complaint. Austin de Cressiers had helped Sidney a great deal when appeal to Monica had been impossible, but his advice was not always followed. "Chuck Edge if he doesn't do his work! Chuck them all; it's the only way! I'd chuck anyone who didn't serve me faithfully, in the twinkling of an eye!" But Sidney did not feel she had the authority to "chuck" any of Monica's people, and Aunt Dannie was hopeless and helpless about any practical issue. When Monica was downstairs, it was impossible to keep things from her. She insisted on interviewing her man, and the interview was a trying one to both of them. She dismissed him at once. Sidney went back to Thanning Towers for a week or two, as Mrs. de Cressiers was not very well. Once away, she found it very difficult to get back to the farm, and Monica was forced to meet and fight her battles alone. Chuckles was packed off to a private boarding-school, and he departed in high spirits. Childlike, he had little notion of his aunt's self-sacrificing devotion to him, and did not seem to take in that her illness was due to her care and love of him. Sidney had a very long Sunday talk with him before he went. "I won't forget I'm a building," said Chuckles, looking into her face with great earnestness. "And I've got to build and God has to build, and we're going to do it wiv each other." "No, Chuckles; God must put His Hand over yours and teach you how to lay every brick." "Should I put them on crooked?" "Very crooked; so crooked that they would never hold together, and only come to the ground with a crash!" "But that's only when a storm comes, and I'm not on the rocks. I mean to be quite, quite steady, I 'sure you, for I aren't on the sand. What do you think my school bwicks will be?" "The same as at home. Truth is one, obedience another. Industry—" Chuckles jumped up and put his small hand over her lips. "Don't say them all. They're so dis-disinter-westing." Yet his last words to her were: "I shall have gwown into a strong tower when you see me nex'. A very high one indeed." And Sidney kissed him with laughing eyes. "You dear little man! I shall expect to see and hear great things now you are a genuine schoolboy." It was a lovely autumnal morning. Sidney was walking along a terrace of roses at Thanning Towers, reading a letter from Randolph Neville. It was the first one she had received since she had left her old home, and her eyes devoured each line with an eagerness which surprised herself. "DEAR FELLOW BUILDER,