"No, no, sir, I shall be all right directly. Don't do that, sir. Mr Bultitude--" "Mr Bultitude has too much respect for you, John Maine, to let you go about in a state of suffering; so just hold your tongue, sir, for you're my patient." A few minutes after he laid his hand on the gate, with the effect of making Jacky Budd start up from his seat on the bottom of a large flower-pot, and begin vigorously hoeing at some vegetables in the now trim garden. The vicar saw him and laughed to himself, as he led the way up to the door, glancing up the street as he did so, and seeing, with a feeling of uneasiness, that there were knots of men standing about in conversation, as if discussing some important subject. The door stood wide open, as if inviting entrance, and flowers were now blooming in profusion on every side, for what with the rough work of Tom Podmore and Big Harry, supplemented by the efforts of Jacky Budd and the parson himself, the garden was what the sexton called a "pictur." "Come in here, Maine," said the vicar, opening the door of his study; and the young man followed, peering round as he did so, for this was his first visit to the vicar's dwelling, and the result of a month's residence was shown in the change that had come over the place. But at the end of the first fortnight, one of Mr Bultitude's waggons had been run down to the station three times to fetch "parson's traps," and "parson's traps" were visible on all sides, the Reverend Murray Selwood being, to use his own words, "rather cursed with wealth." The place was now the _beau ideal_ of a well-to-do bachelor's home. The low-roofed entrance-hall was bright with oak furniture, quaint china, trophies of old arms, and savage weapons, with flowers, for the most part sent by Mrs Glaire, placed wherever there was light and sunshine for them to break up into long sheaves on the clean stone floor. Through an open door could be seen the dining-room, whose oaken sideboard was half covered with massive plate, college cups, and trophies won by muscular arms and legs guided by a clear-thinking and solid brain; but the study itself took John Maine's attention, with its cases full of books, great bronze clock, and vases on the mantelpiece, with statuettes on brackets.