"Well," he said, with his thoughtful smile, "I'm very sorry Mr. Rushton is sick, but I'm glad I can go and hunt some for _ma mere_. Must I go now, sir?" "Yes, and come early to-morrow, there's some work; and besides, your measure for the clothes must be taken." Verty nodded indifferently, and taking up his rifle, went out, followed by Longears. CHAPTER XV. THE PEDLAR AND THE NECKLACE. Verty mounted Cloud again, and set forward toward Apple Orchard. That place very soon rose upon his sight, and riding up to the house Verty encountered the good-humored Squire, who was just coming in from the fields. "Good morning, Squire," said the boy, smiling, "may I go and see Redbud, if you please?" The Squire laughed. "Redbud? What, at school, yonder?" "Yes, sir." The good-natured old gentleman looked at the boy's frank face, and admired its honest, ingenuous expression. "I don't see why you should'nt, Verty," he replied, "if you don't go too often, and keep my little 'Bud from her lessons." "Oh! no, sir." "Go, go by all means--it will be of service to her to see home faces, and you are something like home to her. Short as the distance is, I can't leave my farm, and we can't have 'Bud with us every week, as I should wish." "I've just come from there," said Verty, "and Redbud is very well, and seems to like the place. There is a man who comes there to see Miss Sallianna, and Redbud most dies laughing at him--I mean, I suppose she does. His name is Mr. Jinks." "What! the great Jinks? the soldier, the fop, the coxcomb and swaggerer!" laughed the Squire. Verty nodded. "That's the very man, sir," he said, "and I saw him to-day. I came back, and found Mr. Rushton wanted to be quiet, and Mr. Roundjacket said I might go and hunt some for _ma mere_" "Go, then, Verty; that is, if you won't stop to dinner." "I don't think I can, sir--I should like to see Miss Lavinia, though, if--" "Out visiting," said the Squire. This removed all Verty's scruples; he had virtually done what he promised Redbud, and would now go and see her, because the Squire had a better right to decide than even Miss Lavinia. He, therefore, bowed, with a smiling look, to the old gentleman, and continued his way toward the lodge of his mother. He had reached the foot of the hill upon which the cabin was situated, when he saw before him, seated on a log by the side of the bridle-path he was following, one of those pedlars of former times, who were accustomed to make the circuit of the countryside with their packs of wares and stuffs--peripatetic merchants, who not unfrequently practised the trade of Autolycus.