‘Please, sir, if you won’t box my ears, will you shake hands with me?’ ‘To be sure I will,’ he answered, holding out his hand, and giving mine a very kindly shake. ‘Where do you live?’ ‘I am at school at Aldwick, at Mr Elder’s.’ ‘You’re a long way from home!’ ‘Am I, sir? Will you tell me how to go? But it’s of no consequence. I don’t mind anything now you’ve forgiven me. I shall soon run home.’ ‘Come with me first. You must have something to eat.’ I wanted nothing to eat, but how could I oppose anything he said? I followed him at once, drying my eyes as I went. He led me to a great gate which I had passed before, and opening a wicket, took me across a court, and through another building where I saw many servants going about; then across a second court, which was paved with large flags, and so to a door which he opened, calling-- ‘Mrs Wilson! Mrs Wilson! I want you a moment.’ ‘Yes, Sir Giles,’ answered a tall, stiff-looking elderly woman who presently appeared descending, with upright spine, a corkscrew staircase of stone. ‘Here is a young gentleman, Mrs Wilson, who seems to have lost his way. He is one of Mr Elder’s pupils at Aldwick. Will you get him something to eat and drink, and then send him home?’ ‘I will, Sir Giles.’ ‘Good-bye, my man,’ said Sir Giles, again shaking hands with me. Then turning anew to the housekeeper, for such I found she was, he added: ‘Couldn’t you find a bag for him, and fill it with some of those brown pippins? They’re good eating, ain’t they?’ ‘With pleasure, Sir Giles.’ Thereupon Sir Giles withdrew, closing the door behind him, and leaving me with the sense of life from the dead. ‘What’s your name, young gentleman?’ asked Mrs Wilson, with, I thought, some degree of sternness. ‘Wilfrid Cumbermede,’ I answered. She stared at me a little, with a stare which would have been a start in most women. I was by this time calm enough to take a quiet look at her. She was dressed in black silk, with a white neckerchief crossing in front, and black mittens on her hands. After gazing at me fixedly for a moment or two, she turned away and ascended the stair, which went up straight from the door, saying-- ‘Come with me, Master Cumbermede. You must have some tea before you go.’ I obeyed, and followed her into a long, low-ceiled room, wainscotted all over in panels, with a square moulding at the top, which served for a cornice. The ceiling was ornamented with plaster reliefs. The windows looked out, on one side into the court, on the other upon the park. The floor was black and polished like a mirror, with bits of carpet here and there, and a rug before the curious, old-fashioned grate, where a little fire was burning and a small kettle boiling fiercely on the top of it. The tea-tray was already on the table. She got another cup and saucer, added a pot of jam to the preparations, and said: ‘Sit down and have some bread and butter, while I make the tea.’