"It is." And Ralph informed him how he came by the information. For several minutes there was silence in the room, then William said, as if speaking to himself-- "But the place isn't worth the money." "To a stranger--no; but to me it might be cheap at the price." "Are you so good at farming?" Ralph laughed. "Well, no," he answered. "I'm afraid farming is not exactly my forte; but let us drop the subject. As I told Sir John Liskeard, I might as well think of buying the moon." "But you are fond of the old place?" William questioned. "In a sense, yes; but I do not look at it with such longing eyes as Ruth does." "She would like to live there again?" William questioned eagerly. "She would dance for joy at the most distant hope of it." "Then it is for your sister's sake you would like to turn farmer?" William questioned, after a pause. "I have no wish to turn farmer at all," Ralph answered. "No, no, my dreams and ambitions don't lie in that direction; but why talk about impossibilities? You came across to discuss some other matter?" "Yes, that is true," William said absently; and then a ripple of laughter from the adjoining room touched his heart with a curious sense of pain. "They are on friendly terms already," he said to himself. "And in a little while he will make love to her, and what will Hillside Farm be to her then? I would do anything for her sake--anything." And he sighed unconsciously. Ralph heard the sigh, and looked at him searchingly. "I'm in an awful hole myself," William blurted out, after a long pause. "In an awful hole?" Ralph questioned, with raised eyebrows. "It's always the unexpected that happens, they say," William went on, "but I confess I never expected to be flung on my beam-ends as I have been. If it were not for mother, I'd sell up and clear out of the country." "Why, what is the matter?" Ralph questioned in alarm. "You know the part I took in the County Council election?" "Very well." "Of course, I knew that Lord St. Goram didn't quite like it. He expects every tenant and lease-holder to vote just as he wishes them. Poor people are not supposed to have any rights or opinions, but I thought the day had gone by when a man was to be punished for thinking for himself." "But what has happened?" Ralph asked eagerly. "I'm to be turned out of my shop." "No!" "It's the solemn truth. I had a seven years' lease, which expires next March, and Lord St. Goram refuses to renew it." "For what reason?" "He gives no reason at all. But it is easy to guess. I opposed him at the election, you know. I had a perfect right to do it, but rights go for nothing. Now he is taking his revenge. I've not only to clear out in March, but I've to restore the premises to the exact condition they were in when I took them." "But you've improved the place in every way."