He thoroughly enjoyed the looks of admiration wherewith his daughter was greeted. Well dressed she now was. Her costume was no longer of country make; but what man gives a thought to the dress when the frame it encloses is graceful and the face within the bonnet is charming? Mr. Holwood saluted with consequence when an acquaintance passed in a carriage, as one who was conferring the favour of recognition in place of receiving it. An occasional walker caught his eye and bowed, then, seeing the young lady on his arm, drew to him and asked, 'Introduce me, Mr. Holwood.' The father chuckled with delight, and his frilled shirt-front seemed to rise like the crest of a turkey-cock. Winefred and her father had not been gone many minutes from the house before the house-door bell was again rung, this time with no accompanying rap. The maid soon after came to announce that a young man from near Axmouth was below, waiting, and had brought a hamper for Mrs. Tomkin-Jones from Mrs. Jose of Bindon. 'We cannot receive him in the drawing-room,' said the widow. 'Jane, show him into the dining apartment.' Then to her daughter: 'I suppose I must give him a shilling. Have you any change, Sylvana?' 'Upstairs, mamma.' 'Well, bring it to me below. I must thank him for his trouble and inquire after Mrs. Jose, and offer him a glass of ale.' 'Do you think a shilling sufficient remuneration, mamma?' 'Humph! Half-a-crown is a good deal of money. It makes a sensible hole in a sovereign. We are not supposed to know, my dear, what the basket contains――possibly only watercress, and for that a shilling would be ample.' Then to the servant who tarried: 'Jane!' 'Yes, ma'am.' 'What has the young man brought? Did he intimate to you what was the contents of the hamper?' 'A pair of spring chickens, ma'am.' 'Then, Sylvana, eighteenpence is ample――ample. Bring the silver to me in the dining-room. I will hold my hand behind my back――or, stay! No. I have left my pocket-handkerchief above, and whilst giving me that, slip the change into my hand. Do not be long, as with this sort of people one does not know what to say.' Mrs. Tomkin-Jones descended majestically to the red dining-room in which Jack Rattenbury was awaiting her, looking like a soul in purgatory. He at once handed her the maund, and stated that it was a little remembrance from Mrs. Jose. 'How good of you! I really am eternally obliged. And so you have come all the way from Axmouth? Not on purpose to bring this, I trust?' 'Oh no, ma'am. I am here on business for my master.' 'What, Mr. Jose?' 'No, madam, I am in the Beer quarries with Mrs. Jose's brother, who works them. I have come to Bath on concerns of the quarry.' 'Quite so. It is very good of you. A fine day this with drifting clouds; the sun is hot, but the wind cold. You have, no doubt, found it to be so?' 'Yes, ma'am; but the weather does not trouble me greatly.' 'And how is that excellent Mrs. Jose?'