God-fearing head of his household," said the mother, with a sigh in
her voice.

But Tom interrupted impatiently:

"That is all very well when one is the master. Perhaps when I come
back I can be all that myself; but now I am a dummy--a nobody, and
they all make game of me for being a mock squire! My father himself
knew that no man of spirit would stand such a humiliating
arrangement. If he could not trust me to succeed him, he did well
to arrange for me to go elsewhere. He said you would tell me what
provision he had made for me to do so."

The moment had come that the mother had so long dreaded. She had to
face the separation from her son, and to send him forth into the
world alone. But the experiences of the past weeks had taught her
that perhaps this was the best thing that could happen to young
Tom. In Gablethorpe he had no chance of getting away from evil
associates. In a different place he might find friends of a
different stamp.

She rose and silently unlocked a great oaken press, clamped with
iron, a place where the Squire kept all his valuable papers, and
some of the heirlooms which had come down to him from his
forefathers. Tom looked on with curious eyes. He had always
experienced, from childhood upwards, a certain sense of awe when
that press was unlocked and thrown open. He now observed his
mother's actions with great curiosity.

"Come, Tom, and lift down that box, for it is heavy," she said; and